The NFL Referees Association confirmed that Hugo Cruz has been fired by the league.

In the second quarter of the Cleveland Browns' Week 6 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, the officiating crew appeared to miss a blatant false start on Chargers left tackle Russell Okung on a play that ultimately resulted in a Los Angeles touchdown.

Refs miss an obvious false start on the LT on this Chargers TD pic.twitter.com/fuuVrlBKo5 — Eric Rosenthal (@ericsports) October 14, 2018

But while the missed call cost the Browns in the form of the Chargers taking a 21-3 lead -- en route to a 38-14 victory -- it has proven even more costly for the official who failed to throw his flag. The NFL Referees Association confirmed on Thursday that the league has fired line judge Hugo Cruz, marking the first time in the Super Bowl era that the NFL has fired an official in the middle of the regular season.

News of Cruz's firing was first reported by FootballZebras.com.

NFLRA Executive Director Scott Green said in an email that the association would challenge Cruz's firing.

“The NFL has a troubling history of knee-jerk reactions with an eye on public relations, and clearly it has not learned from past mistakes," Green said. "The NFLRA will protect the collectively bargained rights of all officials and will challenge this reckless decision through the Grievance process.”

While it seems unlikely the missed call in the Browns-Chargers game was the sole reason for Cruz's firing, the timing of his dismissal likely isn't a coincidence. One of the seven sources FootballZebras.com cited told the website Cruz wasn't “maintaining a very high level of performance over a sustained period,” while another said his future with the NFL was already in jeopardy entering the season.

Save for one game in which he served as an alternate, Cruz hadn't been assigned a postseason game in either of the previous two years. He was also assigned to three different crews over the course of the ongoing season, an oddity according to FootballZebras.com.

Cruz had served as an NFL referee since 2015.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, officials have become a familiar foe for the Browns this season. After the league admitted a strip sack vs. the Oakland Raiders which likely would have resulted in a touchdown return shouldn't have been blown dead, the league confirmed that a flag thrown following a helmet-to-helmet hit against quarterback Baker Mayfield during the team's overtime loss vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend shouldn't have been picked up.