Officials called only six penalties in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, but the next-to-last one was huge. It sealed the Buccaneers’ 31-26 victory over the Packers.
Maybe if officials hadn’t kept their flags in their pockets all game the Packers wouldn’t have so vehemently disagreed with the pass interference call on Kevin King on third down with 1:41 left.
But officials did, so the Packers did.
“I think it was a bad call,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said in his postgame press conference. “I think there were a few opportunities for some plays down the field for us that weren’t called. Just surprised that call in that situation was made. You know we get the ball back with probably 1:35 and a timeout with a chance to win the game and go to the Super Bowl. It didn’t look like it was even catchable. So, yeah, that was a bad call.”
The Packers never saw the ball again as the Bucs picked up a first down on an illegal participation by Green Bay followed by three running plays, allowing Tampa Bay to run out the clock.