Nothing unites fans of 31 NFL teams more than their shared frustration over officiating bias toward the Kansas City Chiefs. And, Week 6 was another instance where referees stole the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
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During Sunday night’s 30–17 clash between KC and the Detroit Lions, both fans and analysts erupted over what appeared to be the most one-sided officiating of the season.
There were several questionable moments, including a wiped-out Lions touchdown and a debatable Travis Kelce “catch” that many argued hit the ground, yet the Chiefs weren’t flagged a single time all night.
The Lions, meanwhile, were penalized four times for 38 yards, including a costly illegal motion call that nullified Jared Goff’s trick-play touchdown. Referee Craig Wrolstad later explained that Goff “never got set” before going in motion, but the damage was done.
For many viewers, after the 2023 and 2024 seasons, it felt like just another chapter in the NFL’s growing officiating crisis during a Chiefs game. Calls for referees to be fired and claims that the league is rigged continue to trend almost daily. Luckily for us, former NFL MVP Cam Newton may have already offered the perfect solution to fix it.
Speaking on his 4th & 1 podcast just days before the Chiefs-Lions game, Newton argued that the NFL’s problem lies partly in bad calls and partly in the system itself.
“Any referee that you see on Sunday is a part-time worker, a contractor. These people have real jobs and real lives outside of refereeing… If you want to change this, have it where the NFL referees are governed by a committee. They have their own union and make their job a full-time job,” Newton said.
Currently, NFL officials only work part-time and are allowed to hold outside professions. Many are lawyers, business owners, or doctors, earning roughly $250,000 a year while officiating around 17 games. Newton, however, believes that’s not enough accountability for a league making over $20 billion annually.
“If you want change, you got to make change… Make them a full-time position that’s governed by a weekly commission where they watch film, review calls, and say, ‘Hey, this is a bad no-call, and here’s why,’” the former Panther argued.
The three-time Pro Bowler also proposed giving former players an avenue to rejoin the league as referees, as it would be a good post-retirement payday, plus no one would understand the weight of officiating decisions than ex-NFL stars. “After you get done playing, go be a referee… You’ll have plenty of potential referees that take this job extremely seriously,” he added.
So, to sum it up, Cam Newton believes that by turning refereeing into a year-round commitment with film study, training, and internal accountability, the NFL could drastically reduce officiating errors and rebuild fan trust.
Because, as he put it, “They got real jobs,” and maybe that’s exactly why fans keep wondering why the referee’s calls are as inconsistent as their work profile.
