Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said Tuesday that if Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith would have challenged a call Sunday, it would have resulted in a touchdown that could have gave the Bears a win against the Washington Redskins.
Here’s what Pereira had to say:
“None whatsoever,” Pereira said when asked if he had any doubt the call would have been reversed.
“Fox gave you the two looks from both sides, from both pylons basically,” Pereira said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “It was pretty clear on the first one, distinctly clear on the second shot.
“They would have reversed it to a touchdown.”
“It’s tough,” Pereira said. “I feel for Lovie, because the coaches are put in this challenge situation.
“But I think you have to look at this whole procedure and your philosophy of challenges. I’ve had several coaches tell me they feel they can waste a challenge and waste a timeout in the first half, but you can’t do it in the second half, because timeouts are too critical at the end of the game. And so is the challenge, so you’re not left without one.”
“I think the coaches are so disadvantaged here that they have to look at the play in real time, can’t slow it down, and even if they show a replay on television, all they can do is watch what they show without the ability to slow it down and run it back and forth like the replay assistant does,” he said. “I’ve recommended for years to give them some recording equipment in their coaches booth so somebody can look at a play closer and make the determination ala Lovie Smith style that this has to be challenged, because they could have stopped the video when the ball broke the plane.”
