The Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles both ended their seasons the same way. With a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
And they both have the same sour taste in their mouth for the same reason. Cincinnati and Philadelphia both saw their seasons end without a celebration in large part because of poor officiating.
Holding? pic.twitter.com/i1R0HpXct9
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 13, 2023
The poor officiating in the Bengals’ loss to the Chiefs has been well-documented. From an extra third down to a missed block in the back to a very questionable roughing the passer call, it felt like Kansas City got the benefit of every questionable call in the AFC Championship game.
And it likely cost the Bengals a win. On Sunday night, the Eagles were the victims of an even more egregious call.
On third-and-eight, with less than two minutes remaining in the game and the score tied, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was forced to throw the ball away, seemingly leaving Kansas City with a field goal attempt and the Eagles with plenty of time.
But after the pass fell incomplete, Fox play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt noted that there was a flag on the play.
The Eagles were called for defensive holding. And it was the definition of “ticky-tack”. That penalty gave the Chiefs a new set of downs and essentially allowed them to run the clock almost all the way down.
Philadelphia got the ball back with less than 10 seconds to go and they could only manage a desperation heave that fell incomplete. It’s going to be a long off-season for both teams. But there’s no doubt the Bengals and the Eagles will have plenty of motivation entering 2023 — they both know they’ll have to give it a little more in 2023 to overcome the Chiefs’ lucky horseshoe they seem to have tucked away.
