The Bengals-Chargers Sunday Night Football game was an instant classic with the Bengals overcoming a 27-6 lead to tie the game in the 4th quarter only to see Evan McPhearson miss two go-ahead field goals in the final minutes ultimately leading to the Chargers leading a game-winning drive in the final seconds to secure the win.
But like the majority of games in the NFL, it didn’t come without massive officiating mistakes. In fact, there were three calls that cost the Bengals in less than thirty seconds.
The first blown call came on a bad roughing the passer penalty on Bengals defensive lineman Trey Hendrickson, who took Justin Herbert down with a legal tackle, but he was called for roughing.
Following that questionable call, three plays later, Herbert should’ve been called for intentional grounding. He threw the ball away with 13 seconds left on the clock and no one in the vicinity.
However, no flag was thrown.
And, finally, on the next play, Bengals cornerback Josh Newton was called for pass interference on a pass intended for Josh Palmer. The pass was incomplete, and barely even catchable, but a flag for pass interference was thrown.
This shouldn’t have been a flag, either.
Those three blown calls all helped extend the Chargers’ final drive of the half. Los Angeles was able to get points out of it, extending its lead to 27-6 before halftime.
But if the Chargers hadn’t benefited from the three blown calls at the end of the first half, maybe the game goes differently in the second half.
Alas, the Chargers improved to 7-3 on the season with the win, while the struggling Bengals dropped to 4-7.
