The ending of the Pittsburgh – San Diego game has all sorts of bettors crying foul. The total was 40.5, so the under was secure as the score was 11-10 with seconds left. What wasn’t determined, though, was the spread. Pittsburgh was favored by 4.5, and about two-thirds of the money was bet on them. Needless to say, the sportsbooks would have much preferred a San Diego cover. Hence the conspiracy theories.

As the clock expired, Troy Polamalu got in the way of a lateral as San Diego tried desperately to score the winning touchdown. Instead, Polamalu ran it into the endzone. That made the score 17-10, and the Steelers had covered. The things got crazy. The teams were leaving the field, but then were called back for the extra point. Before that could be kicked, the replay official called for a replay. The replay was watched, and the play was upheld. It should have been – the play was pretty clear.

But then things got strange. Before the extra point could be kicked, the officials huddled again. They decided eventually to overturn the replay and not count the TD. The game ended at 11-10, and San Diego had covered. Books breathed a sigh of relief and counted their profits. After the game, the head official admitted that they had made the wrong call, and that they had done so because they were confused about which one of the two laterals that happened they were talking about. That means that the score should have been 17-10, or 18-10, and Pittsburgh should have covered. Two-thirds of bettors feel robbed, and they probably are justified in feeling so.

To add to the feelings of a sham, the Steelers were assessed with 115 penalty yards, and the Chargers were only given five. When the NBA officiating woes were in the public awareness, we learned that one easy way to influence a game was to penalize one team far more than the other.

Let me first say that I don’t actually think that this game was fixed. It sure doesn’t smell right, though. It was subjected to absolutely brutal officiating, but that isn’t unique to this game. The bigger issue, though, is that it doesn’t matter whether it was fixed or not. The outcome stinks, and people know it. If people become frustrated by the league’s officiating and the impact it is having on games, or if they don’t trust the officials, then the league has a serious problem. Given the number of problems that there have been this year with officials, it seems clear that they league needs to take real action in the offseason to improve the perception of those who can control the outcome of games.