Seahawks Referee Defends 'We Didn't See That' Calls in 34-17 Bears Loss

“We didn’t see that on the field.” That was referee Shawn Smith’s answer, more or less, to all three of the most disputed calls from Seattle’s 34-17 Monday night loss to Chicago. In a postgame pool report shared by ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Smith defended the unflagged hits on Sam Darnold and Tory Horton and stood by the offensive pass interference flag on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and his bluntest moment came when he was asked whether Darnold had slid late. “No, I did not say that.”

What happened on the Darnold slide?

Darnold scrambled on 3rd-and-8 from Seattle’s 31-yard line with 4:20 left in the first quarter, gave himself up with a slide, and was hit by Bears linebacker Devin Bush on the way down, Pro Football Network reports. No flag was thrown, and the television pictures showed Darnold’s helmet rocking back, which is why the clip travelled. Smith’s explanation was narrow and repeated: “He was scrambling and became a runner,” he said. “We didn’t see any contact to his head and neck area when he hit the ground. Once he gave himself up, we didn’t see that on the field.” He acknowledged the rule in the same breath, saying a runner becomes defenceless once he starts to slide and cannot be hit in the head or neck area, but added that the defender had already committed to the tackle and made contact. The gap between what the officials saw in real time and what the replay showed is the whole story of this call.

Did Smith blame Darnold for sliding late?

No, and he refused to be pushed into it. When a reporter asked whether he was saying Darnold had slid late, Smith answered: “No, I did not say that,” Heavy and Pro Football Network both report. He then clarified the protection a sliding quarterback does have, saying he is protected from being hit in the head or neck area, or being hit late. The exchange is the most quoted part of the pool report, because it closes off the easiest defence available to the crew. If Darnold did not slide late, and the contact was visible on television, then the only remaining explanation is the one Smith gave first: the crew simply did not see it.

What about the hit on Horton?

The same answer, on the game’s third offensive play. Seattle faced 3rd-and-5 from its own 37 with 14:13 left in the first quarter when Horton was hit by Bears cornerback Cam Lewis, and some viewers felt Lewis had lowered his head into forcible helmet contact, Pro Football Network reports. Smith said: “There was no forcible contact to the head and neck area of the receiver.” Heavy adds the procedural sting: because no flag was thrown for forcible head or neck contact, replay assistance could not add that foul after the fact. A missed call in the first quarter cannot be fixed by the booth if the flag never existed, which is why the Horton play, the least discussed of the three, may be the most instructive about how NFL officiating actually works.

Why did the Smith-Njigba flag stand?

Because the officials saw exactly what they look for. With Seattle trailing 20-9 in the third quarter, Darnold connected with Smith-Njigba on a pass that appeared to advance the ball to Chicago’s 1-yard line, Heavy reports, before the flag for offensive pass interference wiped it out. Smith said: “We had the receiver with a full extension in the chest of the defender. His elbow locked, and that’s kind of what we look for, that we get a full extension,” Pro Football Network reports. Unlike the two no-calls, this was a judgement the crew made in real time and defended in full. Seahawks fans saw a receiver fighting for position; Smith saw an elbow locked into a chest. Both readings were available on the same replay, which is why this call, unlike the others, split opinion rather than uniting it against the officials.

How did the three calls shape the result?

The Smith-Njigba flag cost Seattle its best chance to climb back into the game. Heavy reports the Seahawks settled for a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, which Bears defensive end Austin Booker blocked, keeping Chicago’s lead at 11 points. Seattle did pull within three when Darnold found Cooper Kupp for a touchdown and Horton converted the two-point attempt, but Chicago answered with two D’Andre Swift touchdowns to seal a 34-17 win. Darnold finished with 188 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception, Heavy reports, and Smith-Njigba recorded 118 receiving yards and a touchdown. The loss dropped Seattle to 4-4, having lost three of its last four games, and head coach Mike Macdonald’s visible frustration on the sideline became part of the story. The desk has covered officiating rows before, from the NFL reviewing an official who appeared to curse at a Cardinals tight end to the suspensions that followed for two officials after player incidents to a coach flagged for swearing at a referee, but Smith’s report is unusual for its candour: he did not hide behind process, he simply said his crew did not see what everyone else saw.

What happens next?

The pool report is the end of the officiating story for this game unless the league says otherwise. No fine or review arising from Smith’s answers has been announced, and the Seahawks now have to live with a 4-4 record built partly on a night when the officials, by their own account, missed two hits and called a third exactly as they saw it. The desk’s recent discipline scale shows how wide the range of outcomes runs, from Greenlaw’s ejection for headbutting a helmetless opponent to suspensions for officials themselves, and Smith’s case, for now, sits at the explanation-only end of it. The next test for Smith’s crew is the next disputed Monday night, when the same question will be asked again: did you see it, or didn’t you? On November 2, the answer was no, three times over.