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NFL officials have plenty of footage at their disposal when it comes to reviewing close plays, but there was a definitive angle they weren’t allowed to look at when the Bears played the Vikings on Sunday. Thankfully, the league says it’s only a matter of time until it addresses the fairly baffling issue.
In 1986, the NFL drew some inspiration from the USFL by rolling out an instant replay system to allow refs to take another look at things to make sure they got things right. It was a very welcome change, and in 1999, the league took another step in the right direction by allowing coaches to trigger challenges in instances where they thought their team ended up on the wrong side of an incorrect call.
The success rate on those challenges has slowly but surely risen over time, a trend that can be credited to a few factors.
By this point, every team has dedicated staffers who are tasked with scouring footage as the game unfolds to determine if a challenge should be triggered. Those employees and the officials that make the ultimate call have also benefitted from the rise in the number of camera angles at their disposal as well as the technological advances that have largely made grainy, zoomed-in footage a thing of the past.
With that said, there are still some aspects that leave a bit to be desired.
During Sunday’s game between the Bears and the Vikings, Mike Eberflus decided to throw the challenge flag after Jordan Addison kicked off the second half with a 69-yard reception that saw him tiptoe down the sideline while bursting down the field.
The call ultimately stood, and while the boundary cam that provided the best angle appeared to show Addison remaining inbounds, Mike Pereira noted the refs weren’t allowed to take the video into consideration because those cameras haven’t been installed in every NFL stadium (to make things even more confusing, the rule only applies to challenges, as it would have been permissible if the review was initiated by the officials).
Mike Pereira explains why officials couldn’t use the boundary cam on a review.
“If a coach is challenged, you cannot use the boundary cam. There’s not boundary cams in every stadium so there’s a question of equity.”pic.twitter.com/7i8wov4SxL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 24, 2024
Pro Football Talk wasted no time doing some digging into the matter and learned the league began installing cameras with a dedicated view of the “goal line, sideline, and end line” back in Week 5, and as things currently stand, MetLife Stadium, SoFi Stadium, and the three venues Florida’s NFL teams call home are the only ones left to be equipped.
The league says all of those stadiums will be welcomed into the fold by the end of 2024 but noted the current policy won’t be changed until next season, which means they won’t be able to be used for challenges during the playoffs.
I feel like we’re probably just one major controversy away from the NFL reconsidering that timeline, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see if it ends up being an issue in the postseason.