How Can the NFL Fix Its Broken Officiating?

The NFL has an officiating problem. As the league loses ratings, they need to figure out a solution. Bleacher Report writes that a number of front office members across the NFL were horrified by what they saw during Saturday’s Chiefs-Titans playoff game and one said it was the second-or third-worst-officiated game he’d ever seen (and he had worked there for decades). Another told Bleacher Report that it was “an embarrassment.” And Bleacher Report writes that it was terrible: Referee Jeff Triplette has long had a reputation for being the game’s worth official. NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira even obliterated Triplette and his crew, it was that bad.

But Triplette is reportedly planning on retiring. But overall, officiating has been awful: missed spots, missed calls, plays that should have been reviewed but weren’t. To fix it, Bleacher Report writes the officials need to get younger, the NFL needs to improve the technology, all the officials need to be full-time employees and be held more accountable, they need to add an extra official, and the rule book needs to be cut in half.