Pool Report Examines Lions' Controversial OPI Penalties

The Detroit Lions were unable to cap off a comeback against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and there was controversy at the center of the ending.

Detroit was aided by two penalties on its final trek into Pittsburgh territory, including a drive-extending pass interference on Steelers safety Kyle Dugger and a tripping call on Alex Highsmith. However, things didn't truly heat up until the Lions faced a first-and-goal from the Steelers' 1-yard line.

The Lions appeared to score the game-winning touchdown on a connection between Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown, but the play was nullified by an offensive pass interference on Isaac TeSlaa. The play appeared to be a designed pick play, with TeSlaa running into a Steelers defender to free up St. Brown.

These plays sometimes are not called penalties if the receiver appears to be running a route, though contact is not allowed past one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. Goff expressed his displeasure with the call during his postgame press conference.

“Yeah, I think he’s got a great head on his shoulders. I did talk to him very briefly, and he’s fine. He is really fine. I think I mentioned the one where Saint caught it, we thought was a touchdown. In my opinion, that’s a bad call," Goff said. "Those happen. Listen, man, they’ve got a tough job, and they make calls that go our way all the time. That one in particular, he should not hang his head about. I know he’d like to have the end line back again. Listen, man, that guy made a great catch earlier in the game. He’s been doing a great job. I have zero reservations about him and know he’ll bounce back.”

After a false start penalty moved the Lions further back, Goff had two incompletions to set up a game-deciding fourth-and-goal from the Steelers' 9-yard line. On the play, Goff connected with St. Brown a yard shy of the goal line. After being stood up, St. Brown lateraled to Goff who leapt into the end zone for what would've been the game-winning touchdown.

However, an offensive pass interference was called on St. Brown. NFL rules state that games can end on offensive penalties, and as a result the Lions lost.

“I haven’t really seen the replay, I saw it one time up there (on the Jumbotron). I think we had a PI on them, Jamo did on that drive going down," St. Brown said. "We got a call, they got a call. If we don’t get that PI on Jamo, that drive’s over, some might say that. At the end of the day, the refs have a job to do and they’re trying their best to do it. We have a job to do as players, and go make plays, and we didn’t make enough plays today.”

At the end of #PITvsDET, the ruling on the field was:

A completed catch, a backwards lateral, and a touchdown by Detroit. There was a flag thrown for offensive pass interference.

The clock was at 0:00 when the touchdown occurred and because the penalty was committed by the… pic.twitter.com/ynPWqFhxXr
— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) December 22, 2025

Official Carl Cheffers and his crew had a lengthy discussion on the field prior to the official ruling of offensive pass interference. In an interview with pool reporter Nolan Bianchi, the referee offered an explanation for what the crew was discussing in those final moments.

"It is a pretty complex play. We had the original player who had the ball, lose possession of the ball," Cheffers said. "So, we had to decide if that was a fumble or a backwards pass because of course we have restrictions on the recovery of a fumble inside of two minutes. We ruled that it was a backward pass, so the recovering player was able to advance it and that recovering player advanced it for a touchdown. We had to rule on that and then because of the offensive pass interference, it negates the touchdown. Because it is an offensive foul, we do not extend the half. Therefore, there is no score and there is no replay of the down. That’s the way the rule is written."

On the TeSlaa play, Cheffers stated that the official reporting the penalty observed contact between TeSlaa and the Steelers' defender beyond the legal amount of one yard past the line of scrimmage.

"The reporting official on that play told me that the offending player picked one of the defenders, creating an opportunity for the offensive player to make the catch," Cheffers said.

With the loss, the Lions dropped to 8-7 and now are facing playoff elimination. To make the postseason, they will need to win their final two regular season games and need the Green Bay Packers to lose each of their final two games.

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