INGLEWOOD, Calif. — There were not many flags flying in Super Bowl LVI until the end of the game.
The officials called eight penalties, four of them coming in a sequence at the end of the game when the Rams scored the go-ahead touchdown.
The biggest call came on third-and-goal from the Bengals’ 8-yard line with 1:44 left. Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson was called for holding on Rams receiver Cooper Kupp. The call looked questionable at best. Wilson put his hands on Kupp, but did not appear to impede his progress. The penalty resulted in a new set of downs for the Rams. They scored four plays later.
“Cooper came up to me and tried to push off of me and I thought I made a good play on the ball,” Wilson said. “The refs saw otherwise. It was a tough call.”
Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson got called for a hold on Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp. NBC SportsBengals coach Zac Taylor did not criticize the officials.
“It’s tough,” Taylor said. “I thought it was a really well-officiated game to be quite honest with you. Sometimes it comes down to moments like those. I didn’t have a great look at it but I thought the officials did a nice job.”
The play before the penalty on Wilson looked more like a holding penalty on the Bengals but there was no flag thrown.
On the play after the call on Wilson, Matthew Stafford threw to Kupp for an apparent touchdown but there were penalties called on both teams. There was holding called on Rams lineman Rob Havenstein and unnecessary roughness on Bengals safety Vonn Bell for his hit on Kupp after he caught the ball. The penalties offset and made it first down again. On the next play former Giants cornerback Eli Apple was called for pass interference in the end zone and that moved the ball to the 1. Two plays later Stafford hit Kupp for the game-winner.
The officials seemed to be calling a very loose game until the end. They did not call a penalty on Bengals receiver Tee Higgins on his 75-yard touchdown catch at the start of the second half. Higgins grabbed the facemask of Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, knocking him to the ground.
The whistles did not affect the game until the final two minutes.
