How is it possible that Bill Vinovich and crew have been assigned to the NFC Championship game? It's no secret that the Rams strangely have a tough time when he is the head officiator, going 0-8 with him at the helm, with a handful of questionable calls in most games. In his time as head ref, he has never ONCE assessed the Rams' opposition more penalty yards. This includes the most recent game between the two teams fighting for the Superbowl that occurred on November 4, 2018.

The highlight of that game's officiating was a missed call when the Rams faked a field goal tied 14-14 and Johnny Hekker clearly reached the ball over the first down marker before going down or being out of bounds. It was painly obvious to everyone watching the game, except for the officials. What makes it worse is that when challenged by head coach Sean Mcvay, Vinovich found "no conclusive evidence" to overturn the call.

Fact sheet:

- The Rams are are 0-8 with Vinovitch as their head referee despite being 55-48-1 without him since 2012.

- Vinovitch has never assessed the Rams' opponent more penalty yardage. That includes the games that McVay coached.

- On average, the Rams nearly double the penalty yardage assessed when compared to their opponents in the games Vinovitch has reffed since 2012.

- Vinovitch is the only ref to have ejected Aaron Donald.

- Vinovitch is the only ref to have ejected Chris Long

There is no reason to repeat the exact same officiating crew for the rematch in the playoffs, other than to stack the odds for Drew Brees to go out with a ring. There are TONS of other combinations the NFL could have chosen. Whether or not the bias is intentional, there is too much data to demonstrate a pattern, and for a corporation as big as the NFL to not see this pattern is highly unlikely. The magnitude of this game is too large and the referees should be neutral, plain and simple.