In an AFC Championship Game littered with controversial umpiring, the start of the fourth quarter was a second most chaotic.
With the score tied 20–20, the Chiefs had a second and 9 and Patrick Mahomes threw incomplete to Jerrick McKinnon. On the ensuing third and ninth, Mahomes again fired incomplete and the Bengals stalled. Both units left the field as special teams players advanced.
However, referee Ron Torbert ruled that despite playing down, it had been blown into a noisy Arrowhead Stadium and did not count. Will be replayed below.
Cincinnati coach Zack Taylor went ballistic on the sidelines. Then on the next 3rd and 9, Bengals defensive back Eli Apple was flagged for holding and the Chiefs ended up with a new set.
in a pool report With ESPN’s Ben Baby, Torbert pointed out that the ruling was the product of a clock fault.
“On the last play, there was an incomplete pass,” Tobert said. “We looked at the ball, but the line judge came in and looked at the ball again because the spot was off. We reset the play clock and the game clock started running. It shouldn’t have started running because there was an incomplete pass on the previous play. The field judge saw that the game clock was running. He was coming to stop the play so that we could fix the clock but no one heard him and the play was run. After the game was over, he came in and we Discussed that he was trying to close the game before the ball was snapped. So, we reset the game clock back to where it was before that snap and went on third down again.
Baby then asked, “What are the general protocols when play cannot be stopped in time and play is stopped, especially if it doesn’t seem to affect the play?”
“If we’re trying to shut down the play and we can’t, we’ll shut it down and go back and run it down again,” Torbert said.
The Chiefs won the game 23–20 and would go on to play the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
