I understand why everybody is upset.
That being said, while replay was designed to try to eliminate bad calls, the rules are currently in place to try to minimize bad calls while protecting the QB, which is why the fumble rule is different for them than it is for any other player. At the end of the day, mistakes will still be made. In every game. And Norv can be as upset as he wants, but he and the team need to look to themselves and remind themselves that if they had made any of a dozen plays earlier in the game, offensively and defensively, as well as stopping the final touchdown or 2 pt conversion, they would have won. 1 bad call by the ref didn’t lose the game for them. It just didn’t help.

with the general idea of this post, maybe not the Old Testament-esque curse on Charger fans, even though I’m a Chiefs fan. And yes, I know the Chiefs are a terrible team.

I’m probably the most disappointed with the NFL in how they handled this particular situation. First, you have a referee that, along with Mike Carey, is always mentioned in conversations as one of the top refs in the league. He, being human, made a mistake at a crucial point in a game, and it cost the Chargers the game. He was a man about it, admitting at the time that he had personally made a mistake, and has continued to take the blame for his. It’s very disappointing that the NFL would choose to play the blame game rather than admit that mistakes happen.

if the ball goes forward, its a forward pass and incomplete if it hits the ground (unless it goes forward due to an “empty hand”).

if the ball goes backwards or sideways w/o being deflected, its a lateral and a live ball if it hits the ground (regardless of what the QB intended or if his arm WAS going forward).

simple as that. easy to call.

They did stop the Broncos. Cutler was about to be a goat for an interception and fumble his last two possessions. Instead the bad call gave him another chance. Gutsy call to go for two. That being said, the ref is human and he made a mistake. If the Cubs lost a game that counted 1/16th of the season because an umpire made a horrible call I am pretty sure this place would be on meltdown.

Unless the game is a blowout, football games are won and lost by one or two plays, as Mike Ditka has always said. They DID stop Cutler, they forced him into a fumble which they recovered. The ref blew it and gave the ball back to Denver which changed the outcome of the game, plain and simple. There’s your one of the two plays that Da Coach talks about.

The referee made a big mistake and it’s a very basic one in terms of inadvertent whistle. He blew it an it cost the Chargers at that point. They had another inadvertent whistle earlier in the game, too. On top of that the replay challenge in the first quarter would have 100% over-turned a ruled fumble against the Chargers had the replay equipment been working. The ref indicated that the equipment wasn’t working so the play stood as called as a fumble and Denver scored. I bring this up to put the Charger coaches’ reactions in to context.

I suspect that the Chargers’ coaches are even more upset with their defense.

Given the come back by the Chargers in a very difficult environment v. a division opponent I have no problem with coaches and players venting against such a poorly officiated game.

All that said, the venting s over and you move on, it is pathetic that some fans and even media hacks would provide contact information about the official. No blown calls justify that ind of crap.

a technical balk.

Once again, you seem to think that the umps/refs/judges need more power and less accountability. The ref screwed up, and screwed up bad. He wasn’t thrown under a bus. He was held accountable for his actions.

The fans are not reacting well. Give them a technical balk too.

The call was handled exactly as it should of been according to the rules. This was one of the rules that was specifically left in when replay became permanent.

Don’t like it, change the rule. But don’t blame the ref. He admitted his mistake on the field, and his angle wasn’t conducive to properly see it. And it was a weird fluke play.

a Flagrant Technical Intentional Balk to the referees from the 72 (i think) Olympics for the gold medal game.

As well as 3 demerits, 5 citations, 4 violations, a verbal warning, 2 written warnings, 1 disciplinary review, and 1 disagilation.

Imagine the Cubs lose in the playoffs due to a later-admitted bad call by an ump. How would you feel then?

And, yes, I understand this is only one game. But the NFL plays only sixteen games. That is akin to a baseball team getting screwed out of 10.125 games. Turner may be inept, and I completely agree that fans sending hate mail is out of line, but they have EVER REASON to be upset.

There were two bad calls. They led directly to 15 points that the Broncos should have never even seen. If you cannot see that, there is no point in reading your posts. You cannot jump to the “they had two chances to stop the Broncos”. They had already stopped them. Hell, the Broncos would (should could) not have even scored in the entire second half if the Hochuli didn’t screw up that play.

For the record, I think that Hochuli is a fantastic ref. I would be happy if he ref’d every single Chargers game.

Either way, I still think they could be the team to beat in the AFC, if they get healthy. That’s a big if though.

that hardly ever plays a role against the Bears? (So the Chargers beat the Bears last year? So what? It wasn’t the Bears year.) The calls were bad, the rule’s bad, the Chargers were jobbed. End of story.

Why are you “simmering?” (Are you a fan of other AFC West teams?) if this happened against a higher profile team, believe me, the story would be even bigger than it is.

The trashing of the Chargers doesn’t belong here. I suggest you read the “Must we mock other teams.”

“Historic Choking Dog Organization?” This, from the mouth of a Cubs fan? (Irony font)

He’s been terrible everyplace he has been. It’s criminal that somebody actually entrusted him with the head coaching job of such a marvelously talented San Diego football team.