NFL drops the hammer on Packers All-Pro, making controversial officiating situation even worse
Xavier McKinney got fined by the league for speaking on the official’s mistakes after the Packers’ loss to the Lions in Week 7.
The NFL punished Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney, and the decision makes an already infuriating officiating situation even worse for the Packers. After Green Bay’s 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers on “Thursday Night Football,” McKinney confirmed the NFL fined him for complaining about the officiating in the previous game, a 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions. It was a $25,000 fine.
The fine itself wasn’t a surprise. That’s how the NFL handles players who publicly criticize referees. But the Packers’ All-Pro safety handled the situation well, and his approach stands out compared to how the league deals with its own mistakes.
“I make enough money so I’ll be OK,” McKinney said.
A game shaped by the officials
The Packers had plenty of reasons to be frustrated after the Lions game. The referees essentially decided the result in Detroit’s favor with several roughing the passer calls that were questionable at best. This isn’t saying the Packers didn’t have their own fair share of mistakes in that game.
The roughing calls weren’t the only problems, though. The officials also flagged Green Bay for intentional grounding, and they penalized defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt for unnecessary roughness on a play involving Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. After the game, St. Brown himself said he was trying to get up and score, and no whistle had blown. Therefore, Wyatt simply finished the play, and he was penalized for it.
Taken together, the officiating mistakes ended up deciding the game to some extent. McKinney spoke about it afterward, and the league fined him for those comments.
No accountability from the NFL
The frustrating aspect for the Packers isn’t the fine by itself. It’s the lack of any public acknowledgement of the mistakes, and more than that, the lack of public accountability from the NFL and from the referees.
Referees rarely say much about what happens on the field. After games, they typically answer questions from just one pool reporter, and their responses are generally evasive. The league itself may evaluate its officials internally, but that process isn’t public. As a consequence, fans and teams have no access to any type of accountability.
That creates an uneven dynamic. When the officials make calls that swing a game, the public rarely hears an explanation. When a player like McKinney speaks up about those calls, he gets punished.
McKinney’s mature perspective
Still, McKinney didn’t seem bothered by the punishment, and his reasoning showed a mature perspective on the situation. He has the financial resources to handle it and speak out.
The fine is a tool for the NFL to keep players quiet about officiating. In this case, though, it didn’t work. McKinney was willing to absorb the financial hit in exchange for saying what he believed needed to be said, and that’s a decision he made knowing the consequences ahead of time.
For Green Bay, the win over Carolina helped move past a painful loss to a division rival. But the Lions game will remain a sore spot, especially because the league’s response so far has been to fine the player who criticized the officials rather than to address the calls themselves. McKinney made it clear he accepts that trade-off.
