It was Grand Theft NFL — and it really has to stop.
The National Football League ended its third week of regular-season play — and of regular-referee lockout — on Monday night with as egregious an errant call as football fans are likely ever to see.
It hardly was the first miscue of the evening and it ended up handing the Seattle Seahawks an unearned win at the expense of one of the league’s most storied teams, the Green Bay Packers.
And it gouged a huge hole in the credibility of a $9 billion enterprise that week by week from August to February captures the imagination of the nation — and which lives and dies on its reputation.
The league locked out its regular referees at the start of the season after contract negotiations failed over salary, pension changes, discipline and other issues.
OK. That’s how collective bargaining sometimes goes.
What’s not OK is that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners made no provision for competent replacement officials.
Virtually every game that’s been played this year has produced a comedy of striped-shirt errors of the sort that cost Green Bay so dearly.
At the same time, Goodell & Co. haven’t reduced the price of their product by one thin dime — not tickets, not concessions, not ad rates, not nothing.
It’s unconscionable — pure and simple.
Yesterday, the NFL announced that it had re-examined Monday’s egregious error and that, upon further review, the replacement refs were right, after all.
But millions of fans saw otherwise — they saw an intercepted pass ruled a touchdown, which made the difference in the game.
Yes, the NFL admitted that the refs missed a penalty on the same play that should have voided the down and made the whole mess moot — but it ruled that the mugging of the Packers would stand.
To the contempt of millions of fans — who know better, who know the truth.
Let’s face it: Professional football became America’s de facto national pastime decades ago (sorry, Derek, it’s true), and it produces stupendous wealth every year.
Who can blame the replacement refs for wanting some of the action? But the plain truth is that they collectively are incompetent and the league has an obligation to the players and the public to bench them.
To the players, because pro football is a dangerous game and qualified officials are necessary to control it.
To the public, because it pays top dollar for a quality product, and it’s being cheated.
If the team owners feel so strongly about keeping regular refs off the field while a contract is worked out, fine — let them postpone, if not cancel, the season.
Otherwise, they need to sweep the imposter refs off the field, bring back the regulars and let the two sides work out their differences on their own time.
It’s the moral thing to do.