Fangio on refs' controversial end-of-game decisions vs. Bears: 'We can't control poor officiating or awful calls'

Vic Fangio took the passive-aggressive route with regard to the NFL officiating crew who swung the closing seconds of the Broncos' Week 2 matchup to the Bears.

Vic Fangio has had a day to ruminate on the way his second career loss as a head coach went down. 

In the Denver Broncos' 16-14 loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 2, the game was decided by two fateful calls by the officials. Fangio, one day removed from the unfortunate ending to Week 2, fired a volley of passive-aggression toward the league office. 

“In regard to officiating," Fangio said on Monday, "I’m just going to quote [New Orleans Saints Head Coach] Sean Payton, who is a much more senior head coach than I am, ‘We can’t control poor officiating or awful calls.’ And we’ll just go about it that way."

Here's how the two plays in question affected the outcome of the game, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

The Chubb flub

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The first was an egregiously bad roughing-the-passer penalty on Bradley Chubb that gave the Bears 15 yards on a drive that started on their own 25-yard line with 31 seconds to go and one timeout, trailing by a single point.

Every second and every yard counted on that drive. In the clutch, the officials need to be extremely circumspect in the way they adjudicate the rules. The yellow laundry should only fly on a foul that is clear and evident and affected the play. 

The flag on Chubb came nowhere close to adhering to those standards. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the ref who threw the flag — Adrian Hill — is in his rookie season as an NFL official. 

All bets are OFF on the Broncos' 2019 season! Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our free newsletter and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

Time Bandits

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The second controversial call the officials made came on what should have been the final play of the game. Bears' WR Allen Robinson hauled in a 25-yard dart from QB Mitchell Trubisky and promptly hit the deck, trying to get the whistle blown in time for Chicago to call a timeout before the clock ran out. The clock was at 0:00. 

The game was decided — until the officials made the retroactive decision to put one second back on the clock, saying that Trubisky somehow was able to call timeout on the field (as he's being harassed by the Broncos' pass rush) at just the right time to stop the clock at one second. 

Due to the officials reversing time, Bears' kicker Eddy Pineiro was able to trot out onto the field and nail the 53-yard field goal attempt to give Chicago the walk-off win. 

Fangio was on the sideline, watching this all play out in real-time. He had that vantage, and one day later, the opportunity to review the tape. He, of course, has a biased opinion but Fangio isn't the type to dissemble. He calls it like it is. 

“I don’t think there was (one second left on the clock)," Fangio said. "They’re assuming a lot there and they will tell you that there has to be lag time. He went down at one and —nothing in life and in the world happens simultaneously. There is lag time there, and they didn’t deem there was lag time there.”

The truth is, the Broncos allowed themselves to be in that position where one second left determined the outcome of the game. That 25-yard completion from Trubisky to Robinson was on a 4th-&-15 play in which the Broncos rushed only four, which put seven guys in coverage, while the Bears kept in seven blockers (expecting a blitz). 

The Broncos had seven players in coverage to the Bears' three receivers actually running routes downfield, on 4th-&-long with the game on the line, and relinquished the reception to Robinson. Asked simply whether there was a coverage breakdown on that play, Fangio replied, "Yes." 

Were the Broncos robbed at the end of the game? Yes, but Fangio will be the first one to tell you that you can't put your fate in the hands of an officiating crew. 

"We still have to find a way to win the game regardless of what’s happening,” Fangio said. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.