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SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 24: Wide receiver Golden Tate #81 of the Seattle Seahawks wrestles with cornerback M.D. Jennings #43 of the Green Bay Packers after making a catch in the end zone to defeat the Green Bay Packers 14-12 on a controversial call by the officials at CenturyLink Field on September 24, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images) | Getty Images Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. And in this case, the NFL has a very short memory.
The league is moving forward with hiring replacement referees for the 2026 NFL season, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert and Kalyn Kahler. The move is a result of the NFL’s state of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association.
The current CBA is set to expire May 31. The ESPN report notes the “league office is expecting and preparing for a lockout.”
The NFL may not have a short memory, but fans continue to point to the last time such an initiative came. In the 2012-2013 season, in a situation with the NFLRA not unlike the current one, the NFL hired replacement officials. The results were nothing short of a disaster. From the start of the season in Week 1, the game appeared far too fast for an officiating crew poached from lower-level college and high school programs.
What began as awful calls and rule interpretations ended with what fans call the “Fail Mary”, AKA the “Inaccurate Reception”. In the Week 3 Monday Night Football game (nationally televised), the Seattle Seahawks “defeated” the Green Bay Packers after Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hail Mary pass that Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate and Packers safety M.D simultaneously caught. Jennings. In the review, it looks like Jennings secured the ball first. Tate also committed a pass interference penalty, shoving Packers defensive back Sam Shields, which the league said should have been pass interference.
The NFL brought back the correct officials for Week 4 — thanks to the embarrassment of how Week 3 concluded. Some officials received a standing ovation upon return.
There’s something familiar about all of this. How the NFL plans to execute this lockout so it doesn’t blow up as it did just over a decade ago is the biggest question. A follow-up is what exactly will make the league expedite negotiations? Last time it took the Fail Mary, a play that had huge implications later in the NFL playoffs (the Seahawks’ win over the playoffs put them at 11-5, tied with the San Francisco 49ers, but the 49ers won the tie after defeating the Packers in week 1).
If you thought the officials were bad before, it could always be worse. And if history is any indication, fans may witness how bad it can get.
