The Pittsburgh Steelers held off the Detroit Lions 29-24 in a wild finish on Sunday at Ford Field. It sure looked like the Lions would take the lead in the final seconds, and the game’s referee briefly made Detroit fans think the Lions had a walk-off victory.
With under 30 seconds remaining, Detroit had first-and-goal at the Pittsburgh one-yard line but were called for offensive pass interference to make it first-and-goal at the 11. That was followed by a false start to make it first-and-goal from the 16.
A few plays later, the Lions had fourth-and-goal at the nine, and it turned into an absolutely wild play that featured Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown catching the ball just shy of the goal line, then lateraling the ball to quarterback Jared Goff, who took it into the end zone as time expired.
But there were flags on the field.
Game-winning touchdown? Penalty on the Steelers? Penalty on the Lions?
Nobody knew what was going on, and the officials spent two minutes discussing the ruling before finally making an announcement.
And that only led to more confusion in the moment.
“The ruling on the field is a touchdown,” referee Carl Cheffers announced, leading to a celebration from Lions fans.
“However, pass interference, No. 14, on the offense,” Cheffers continued. “By rule, that penalty is not enforced, and there is no replay. The game is over. There is no touchdown. OPI on No. 14 negates the penalty. There is no replay. The game is over.”
“Whoa!” CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz exclaimed as Cheffers was explaining the ruling. “Whoa!”
“Wow!” CBS color commentator Tony Romo responded to the ruling.
“The OPI ends it,” Nantz said. “They even conceded, [CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore], that Goff had scored a touchdown. As bizarre as it gets!”
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Steratore, a former longtime NFL official, responded. “In the NFL, offensive fouls with time expired do not extend. I was looking to see, and they may have been discussing, whether there was progress on St. Brown, and whether there was time. But once Carl Cheffers said the ruling was touchdown, we knew that time had expired. You see the OPI from St. Brown there (as CBS shows a replay). And as I said, the game was at zero, whenever Goff scored. So that is end of game; you don’t extend on offensive penalties with zeroes on the clock.”
“You know, the players are still standing on the field,” Nantz said. “The Lions players are looking up at the videoboard, watching the replay over and over again, and incredulous, trying to figure out what just happened.”
“I just sit here and watch this, and you say, I mean, this is such a huge moment for seasons for these teams,” Romo said. “And all of a sudden, St. Brown doing that.”
To Romo’s point, it’s a hugely important win for the Steelers, and it’s a massive loss for the Lions.
With the upset road victory, Pittsburgh (9-6) is in the driver’s seat in the AFC North. Detroit (8-7), meanwhile, needs to win its final two games and have the Green Bay Packers lose their final two games to reach the playoffs on the NFC side.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.