Bengals head coach Zac Taylor commented on officiating after Super Bowl 56

There was some questionable officiating toward the end of Super Bowl 56, and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor gave his thoughts after the game. 

The second half of Super Bowl 56 was defined by big plays and questionable calls, all of which ended up shaping how the game turned out.

Right out of the gate in the third quarter officials were dragged for missing a pass interference call against Tee Higgins on a 75-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Things only went downhill from there, specifically on the game-winning drive by the Los Angeles Rams in the last two minutes of the game.

On that drive, officials threw more flags than they had the entire game and appeared to give the Rams two extra chances to score a touchdown. It’s rather reductive to blame officials when plays still need to be made, but the officiating wasn’t being noticed by Bengals fans upset about what was happening.

After the game, head coach Zac Taylor was the first member of the Bengals to take the podium and he addressed one of the biggest questions of the night: What was up with the late-game officiating?

Rather than pile on or take the easy route, Taylor didn’t blame officials for why he was talking to the media and not hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on the field.

What was he supposed to say here? Had Taylor gone in on officials, he’s the one that looks like a sore loser and further opens himself up to criticism that he’s already going to get from how he managed the end of the game.

For what it’s worth, the Bengals were the beneficiaries of a horrid call to start the half so the fact that things came back around at the end of it feels less like a case of the game being rigged (which Bengals fans are under the impression of) and more like the natural flow of officiating — which was horrible to start the year and not much better at the end.