Worst call against each NFL team in their history

Pittsburgh Steelers: The refs mishear Jerome Bettis’ call on the Thanksgiving Day coin toss

It’s awfully hard to mess up a coin toss, but that’s what the refs did in the 1998 Thanksgiving Day showdown between the Steelers and Lions. With the game headed to overtime, Bettis called tails, but referee Phil Luckett heard heads and announced the call as such. Detroit won the toss and kicked the winning field goal on their first drive to win the game, leaving football fans across America extremely confused at what they had just witnessed.

San Francisco 49ers: Ronnie Lott gets called for holding in the 1983 NFC Championship Game

The 49ers were bidding for a trip to the Super Bowl in 1983 and made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points to tie the game. Washington got the aid of the refs at a key juncture in the fourth quarter when Lott was called for holding on a 3rd-and-5 from the San Francisco 13. Lott’s infraction was nowhere near the play and it enabled the Redskins to run out more clock before Mark Moseley kicked the go-ahead field goal with 40 seconds to go.

Seattle Seahawks: Super Bowl XL

It’s too hard to signal out one bad call in Super Bowl XL but it is clear as day that the Seahawks were routinely screwed by the officials throughout the game. Points were taken off the board and drives stalled thanks to a series of questionable penalties that made it much easier for the Steelers to win the contest. There is no question that this was the worst display of officiating in a championship game in the history of the NFL.