Over the first seven weeks of the 2026 regular season, it's become clear that the NFL has an officiating issue. On Sunday, those issues surfaced in Nashville, and the Tennessee Titans got the short end of some botched calls.
One of the biggest social-media buzz generators is a missed false start on the biggest play of the game: the 38-yard pass to Browns tight end Harold Fannin that set up the game-winning field goal as time expired. It's hard to believe no official saw it, but offensive tackles across the league often get away with it.
Harold Fannin Jr. with the big catch and run to put the Browns into field goal range!
— NFL (@NFL) October 25, 2026
CLEvsTEN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/x27nZZqjK0
But the real issues came on a critical first-half goal-line
stand, when the Browns seemingly got help from the officials (and the Titans’ coaches). On the second-down play, Tennessee tried a quarterback sneak with Cam Ward, and replay shows that Ward likely broke the goal line for a score. While the officials missed the touchdown, Tennessee failed to challenge, which cost them points, but that wouldn't have been an issue if the officials had gotten it right.
Why didn’t Saleh challenge it?
— deadlift_a_Donut (@donutparty10) October 25, 2026
The next play in the sequence also raises questions about the officiating crew. On the third-down sack, Ward was brought down primarily by the facemask, and once again, no flag was dropped.
Missed facemask call on the Browns defense on the goal line stop vs the Titans.
— AtoZ Sports Nashville (@AtoZSports) October 25, 2026
This was 3rd & goal from the 1. Cam Ward was "sacked" for no loss. Tony Pollard was then stopped on 4th and goal pic.twitter.com/4U35evlS9v
While these missed calls do not excuse the play calling or execution during that sequence, those missed calls are becoming commonplace every week, and many outside the league are starting to take notice of the fact that the officials leave their fingerprints on every game, and the league stays silent on their atrocious performances on a weekly basis.
The real question is: if millions of football fans can spot these three plays in real time, how many more will they find when the tape is broken down? Probably a lot.
This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: NFL officials did Titans no favors in Sunday's loss to Browns
