ALLEN PARK -- Have you been wondering how a guy like Trey Flowers could go 50 games without ever being flagged for hands to the face, then get flagged twice for hands to the face on consecutive series to end a controversial loss?

Here’s one possible explanation.

Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari told the officials to look for it.

"I went over to the ref,” Bakhtiari told the Green Bay Press Gazette. “I said, ‘Hey, are we not calling hands to the face again? Because the past three plays, I’ve been staring at the sky.’ And he’s like, you know, he’s not looking at my side, but I at least made him aware.”

It’s not uncommon for players and coaches to ask officials to watch for something in a game, but Bakhtiari’s conversation clearly worked.

Flowers was flagged for hands to the face for the first time in his career on Green Bay’s penultimate possession on Monday night. Replays show Flowers gripped his hand at the collar of Bakhtiari’s shoulder pad, before grazing his facemask. The rule calls for “prolonged” contact of the head or neck area, and there is dispute over whether Flowers met that threshold.

Either way, the flag was thrown, wiping out a third-down stop that would have forced the Packers to punt while trailing 22-13 in the fourth quarter. Three plays later, Aaron Rodgers threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard that whittled Detroit’s lead to two points.

Then on Green Bay’s final series, it happened again. Flowers was flagged for the same hands to the face penalty, this time wiping out a third-down stop that would have forced a field goal try with 1:36 left. Instead, the Packers drained the rest of the clock before kicking a game-winning field goal at the horn. Ballgame.

“The umpire (Jim Rice) threw both of them,” referee Clete Blakeman said. "The last one was really the only one I’ve discussed with him. Basically, it’s for illegal use of the hands, hands-to-the-face foul. To be a foul, we basically need some forceful contact that’s prolonged to the head and neck area of the defender. So, in his mind he had pinned him back, it was prolonged, and that’s what created the foul.”

The NFL has since acknowledged this flag was a mistake.

But replays show Flowers never touched the head or neck area at all, let alone for a “prolonged period of time.” He gripped at the collar of Bakhtiari’s shoulder pad, much like he did on the previous penalty, and much like he’s done throughout his career. And he was never flagged for it -- until Bakhtiari told the umpire to look for it.

“I can definitely tell you,” Bakhtiari told the Press Gazette, “for a good portion of the game, I was getting my throat punched in, and I was looking up at the sky a fair amount. If you think about it, if your hand is in my throat, you’re probably hitting my facemask, which is pushing my head up in the sky.”

Of course, Flowers had a different interpretation.

“This is a move I’ve been doing, and a lot of people do it,” Flowers said. "I had him right here (at the neck area of the shoulder pad). Snatched him right here. If I slipped up here (toward the neck/face) then I’d say that was a flag. But I never slipped. He saw hands to the face, that’s what he called. It is what it is.”