The officiating in Sunday’s AFC title game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs was under a huge amount of scrutiny, especially in the moment that had everyone from fans to Cincy head coach Zac Taylor completely mystified.
Why the heck did the Chiefs get an extra third down early in the fourth quarter after Patrick Mahomes and the offense couldn’t get a first down? The re-do ended up with a penalty giving the Chiefs a first down.
There are videos floating around with explanations — a couple are below — but per the pool report, the clock started running when it shouldn’t have because the previous play was an incomplete pass. That should have stopped the clock, and the field judge had to jump in to try to stop the play.
Pool report on the third down replay. pic.twitter.com/oBn9v7JhVP
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) January 30, 2023
Here's my really crappy video showing that the outlier official was actually right about that Chiefs third down screw-up pic.twitter.com/kRqzj3Tv4u
— Cian (@Cianaf) January 30, 2023
This ref at the top blew the play dead. Bengals thought they had a third down stop. Instead, the next play is a holding for a first down. Chiefs would eventually punt.
Not a great look for the refs #RuleTheJungle #ChiefsKingdom #CINvsKC pic.twitter.com/6doWYTfaCg
— Mouthguard (@MouthguardPod) January 30, 2023
There you have it. How bizarre!
