Green Bay Packers fans may have been able to stomach a loss against the rival Detroit Lions on the road, but losing it in the fashion this 20-17 loss went down was downright pitiful. The officiating handed the Packers at least six clear-cut calls that set this team back despite minimal justification.
Green Bay did not lose this game because the officials were bad. They couldn't stop Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jordan Love left a lot of meat on the bone against a terrible secondary. However, the zebras did just about everything in their power to ensure Green Bay would never get any momentum going.
Between phantom pass interference penalties, personal foul calls that would make even the biggest flag football aficionado out there decry this performance as too soft, and not calling big targeting hits on Detroit in the same game, the refs played all the bad-call hits. All they were missing was a big offensive play negated for holding.
Refs in Packers-Lions Week 7 loss call multiple horrible penalties on Green Bay
The party got started with a roughing-the-passer call on Brenton Cox that was one step below accidentally bumping into him. Sure, it was a few seconds after Jared Goff let the ball go, but there was no ill intent from Cox. He was clearly trying to stop his forward momentum, and Goff added a little bit of drama to this.
Perhaps the most egregious personal foul was Devonte Wyatt getting called for a penalty after...tackling Amon-Ra St. Brown? The ref was on the ground right next to Wyatt, and the only explanation for that penalty seems to be the official believed Wyatt was making contact with him. Considering the game situation, this was a monumental blunder.
Defensive lineman Karl Brooks was called for a second roughing-the-passer call, where he hit Goff as soon as he threw the ball. Where was the foul here? Was it possibly Brooks coming down too heavily on Goff? His barrel roll off of him? To call this questionable is the understatement of the year.
Brandon Cisse had what would have been an interception nullified by a phantom pass-interference penalty, and Love was called for intentional grounding despite being way out of the tackle box and trying to get the ball to a receiver in the flat before being dragged down. At least the Lions were called just as harshly, right? Wrong!
Brian Branch had what should have been the most obvious targeting penalty in the history of targeting penalties called on him, but the referees decided this was the perfect time to swallow their whistles. Tucker Kraft's helmet came off when Branch used his helmet to launch himself into Kraft's facemask, and no penalty was called.
The Packers shot themselves in the foot, but they received no help from a collection of officials who burned them at very inopportune times. This current Packers team is not talented enough to overcome these issues.
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