Furious NFL fans believe the Detroit Lions’ win over the Houston Texans was ‘rigged’ after referees missed a potential game-changing call late on.
With two minutes remaining at NRG Stadium, the Texans were on the verge of taking the lead on a 3rd-and-4th at the Lions’ 40-yard line when CJ Stroud’s attempted pass to Xavier Hutchinson fell incomplete.
Ka’imi Fairbairn then missed a resulting 58-yard field-goal attempt to keep the score at 23-23, before Detroit took advantage of the short field to set up Jake Bates for the game-winning kick.
However, replays appeared to suggest that the visitors – who were mocked for the ‘worst celebration ever’ after their win – should have been penalized for pass interference on Houston’s final drive.
Hutchinson was unable to catch the pass from Stroud on 3rd-and-4th after being bundled over by Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold, only for the pass interference to go unpunished by Bill Vinovich and his crew.
Fans are convinced the Lions got away with a blatant pass interference against the Texans
Jake Bates went on to kick a game-winning field goal for Detroit after the controversial no-call
And after Dan Campbell’s team went on to snatch a last-gasp victory, fans were left seething at the no-call on social media.
‘Most clear PI of the season,’ one user said on X. ‘No call. League is rigged for the Lions.’
Another posted: ‘This game was rigged for the Lions.’
‘No pass interference called against Lions? Rigged,’ wrote a third.
After the NFL shared a graphic celebrating the Lions moving to 8-1, one user replied: ‘Obviously had this made up pre-game, nfl rigged confirmed’.
Despite fans’ fury online, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryan instead focused on the shortcomings of his team in his postgame press conference, insisting they performed well below-par after the interval.
‘The second half was not good enough,’ Ryan said. ‘We didn’t play winning football, we stalled on a lot of drives, didn’t score any points in the second half.
‘To beat a good football team like that, we have to be able to sustain drives, we have to be able to score points, and we were going backwards way too much.’
