Official Misses The Call

Sometimes it is the smallest of plays that make the biggest of differences.  In Sunday's Chargers vs. Broncos game, referee Ed Hochuli made a wrong call when he called a Jay Cutler fumble a dead ball, when in fact it was a live ball which was recovered by the Chargers.  At that point in the game the Chargers had come back from a 21-3 deficit and had made it 38-31 with one minute remaining.  The Broncos were fortunate to get the call to go their way and ended up scoring soon after, and then going for two making it 39-38 with under 20 seconds left.

With the loss the Chargers fell to 0-2 and the Broncos went to 2-0.  It was the second last drive loss in a row for the Chargers and was a real heart breaker for a team many thought to be Super Bowl favorites.  What made it worse was that after the game Hochuli stated that he made the wrong call, but that did not change the outcome of the game.

The strangest part of all of this was that even with booth reviews the call was not reversed, which could have saved the NFL and its officiating crew from this nightmare.  In a league which prides itself on instant replay and making the right call, this is the last thing we would expect.  However, in sports if we have learned anything it is that these refs are human and they do make mistakes.  The NBA has admitted to making incorrect or missing fouls numerous times, even during championship games, and just this year the MLB installed instant replay for the first time after various incidents regarding home runs that were called otherwise.

While the refs clearly made the wrong call, which totally changed the outcome of the game and greatly affected both teams, that is part of sports.  There will be good calls, bad calls, and missed calls.  And while it would appear easiest to just blame the ref, lets remember that they have enough work to do already and most do a good job as it is.