Lions screwed by referees’ penalty calls in MNF loss to Packers

The Detroit Lions lost to the Green Bay Packers 23-22 on Monday night, and they seemed to be working against two opponents when one takes into account all the penalty calls that went against them. Detroit was hurt by some unbelievable penalty calls from the referees, not to mention a missed call.

There are three calls that came in the fourth quarter that all went Green Bay’s way and had an enormous impact on the game. Here they are in chronological order.

1. Trey Flowers called for illegal use of the hands with just over 10 minutes to go

Green Bay had a 3rd-and-10 and Aaron Rodgers was sacked. The sack would have forced a 4th-and-long and likely punt to Detroit with the Lions up 22-13 in the fourth quarter. Flowers only had his hand on the shoulder, not in the face. It was just a totally missed call.

If anything, Packers LT David Bakhtiari had HIS hands in Trey Flowers' face on these two plays #DETvsGB pic.twitter.com/exnuYckIJK — Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) October 15, 2019

The Packers ended up scoring a touchdown on the possession to make it 22-20.

2. Missed pass interference call

The Lions had the ball at their 41 leading 22-20 with 7:11 left. On a 2nd-and-6 play, Matthew Stafford threw deep to Marvin Jones Jr. Will Redmond mugged him but there was no pass interference call.

Yet another bad call by the refs that goes against the Detroit Lions. No PI here, right @nfl ? pic.twitter.com/aCwK9nOgtR — College Football Blueprint (@CFBBluePrint) October 15, 2019

Detroit ended up punting.

3. Trey Flowers called for illegal use of the hands again

On 3rd-and-4 at the 16 with 1:36 left, Flowers was once again called. This gave the Packers a first down. It was a bad call.

I hate blaming the refs, I really think it's lazy and irrational. But the Lions were jabbed hard tonight multiple times. "Hands to the face" pic.twitter.com/wCtBGlQJJt — Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) October 15, 2019

Green Bay should have been forced into fourth down. Had they kicked to take the lead, the Lions would have had plenty of time to rally back for a field goal of their own. Instead, the Packers got to run down the clock and kick to win it.

All three plays — the two illegal use of the hands penalty calls, and the missed pass interference — hurt the Lions enormously in the game. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is nothing new for Lions fans.