The Chicago Bears lost their fourth straight game in a brutal 29-27 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where the poor officiating was the talk of the game.
While the Bears did plenty to lose themselves the game in the first half, the refs did their part to prevent a Chicago comeback in the second half with a slew of questionable calls that still have NFL fans, players and analysts livid.
The most egregious was a questionable taunting call on outside linebacker Cassius Marsh, who clearly wasn’t taunting, which gifted the Steelers the game-winning field goal.
But there were plenty of others, including the discrepancy between roughing the passer calls on Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
There was one no-call in particular that had NFL fans frustrated, when Fields was hit well after he got rid of the ball and there was no penalty called. To make matters worse, the Bears were flagged for a similar roughing the passer call on Roethlisberger earlier in the game.
Hey @NFLOfficiating are we going to call roughing the passer the same for all 32 QBs! @justnfields is a Quarterback if you guys were wondering. pic.twitter.com/D0STmBk8r9
— Lord Zito (@VivalaZito) November 9, 2021
Fields was asked about the late-hit call that was missed by officials, and Fields ultimately called for fairness in penalties with quarterbacks.
“I told the ref Big Ben just got that call,” Fields told reporters after the game, “you gotta call it both ways.”
Justin on the late hit call that was missed:
“I told the ref Big Ben just got that call you gotta call it both ways.”
Also said “Joe Burrow talked about it a few weeks ago the young guys don’t get those calls and the older guys do and you have to face that.” Visibly frustrated
— Austin F (@PodGuyFuges) November 9, 2021
But this is nothing new for NFL fans. Typically, veterans like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Roethlisberger are going to get those calls while young players just don’t.
“Joe Burrow talked about it a few weeks ago,” Fields said. “The young guys don’t get those calls, and the older guys do, and you have to face that.”
