NFL's defense of the ticky-tack roughing-the-passer flag on Bradley Chubb is garbage

The NFL has thrown its hands in the air regarding the erroneous penalty Bradley Chubb incurred for rough the passer with the game on the line.

The NFL's message to the Denver Broncos after the controversial flag on Bradley Chubb for roughing the passer in the closing seconds of the team's Week 2 tilt with the Chicago Bears? 

Charge it to the game. 

The league office called rookie referee Adrian Hill's penalty on Chubb a "judgment call", which is no consolation to a Broncos team that fell to 0-2 as a result. 

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk aptly pointed out that Hill's flag on Chubb late likely came as a 'make-up call' for the ticky-tack roughing call on Bears' DL Eddie Goldman from earlier in the game. Perhaps not on purpose but the subconscious is a powerful thing. 

If that officiating crew thought they blew a call earlier that favored the Broncos, the urge to balance the scales might have been too powerful to overcome. Chubb's hit on Mitchell Trubisky absolutely was not roughing the passer. 

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The flag gave Chicago an additional 15 yards, which made it possible for them to eventually convert a 4th-&-15 to Allen Robinson for 25 yards, which put kicker Eddy Pineiro within range for a 53-yard walk-off field goal attempt. 

Minus those 15 yards from Chicago's final drive and with one second left on the clock, Mitchell Trubisky is hurling a hail mary, instead of Pineiro kicking a game-winning field goal. 

Such is the imperfect nature of the NFL, though. Human error will factor in. The refs try to get it right but sometimes, indeed, they make a judgment call and it's the incorrect call. 

However, you'd hope that these refs, even the rookies, are smart enough to know that in the clutch, a flag should only fall when it's egregious and blatant. Chubb's foul wasn't even close, regardless of which angle the hit on Trubisky was seen from. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.