NFL made four ‘unscheduled substitutions’ to officiating crew for Chiefs-Bengals game
Last Tuesday, the NFL announced John Hussey would be the referee for last Sunday’s Chiefs-Bengals game in Cincinnati, and Ron Torbert would have the week off.
But when the game started at Paul Brown Stadium, Torbert was working as the referee
The Football Zebras website, which tracks all things related to officials in college and the NFL, said there were 11 “unscheduled substitutions” in the Week 17 games, including the Torbert for Hussey switch.
Three other changes were made to the officiating crew for the Chiefs-Bengals game, according to Football Zebras. That includes two who worked in a different job than usual.
At back judge, Tony Josselyn filled in for Brad Freeman; Mark Steinkirchner, a line judge, worked as down judge in place of Sarah Thomas; and Keith Washington, a side judge, worked as field judge for Jabir Walker.
No reason was given by the NFL for the changes to the eight-person officiating crew. But switching out half of an officiating crew is unusual. On Sunday, the only other game with more than one unexpected change to the officiating crew was the Bears-Giants contest, which had two different officials working.
The possible culprit for the changes: positive COVID-19 results.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported last week that NFL officials take a home test each Monday and the results are known on Tuesday. Testing on Dec. 20 and 27 showed 18 officials had tested positive, Breer reported.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 12:32 PM.
