Fining Xavier McKinney protects the NFL's image, not the game

Here is a question the NFL should be able to answer: if a player is wrong about the officiating, why not just show him? Instead, the league reached for the checkbook.

Packers safety Xavier McKinney confirmed after Green Bay's win over Carolina that he was fined at least $25,000 for what he said after a 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions, as The Big Lead reports. ESPN's Adam Schefter had reported the punishment first. McKinney's postgame remarks were profane, and he acknowledged they could cost him. He said he was willing to pay because he wanted to stand up for his team.

The flashpoint was a sequence in the fourth quarter of a one-score game. Detroit's Amon-Ra St. Brown appeared to go down after a short catch, got up and kept running, and Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt tackled him again. Umpire Terry Killens Jr. fell during the play and threw a flag. That gave Detroit a first down near the goal line, and two plays later Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams for a touchdown and a 17-14 lead. Referee Alex Moore later said officials had ruled the play over, though he couldn't confirm hearing a whistle.

The fine answers the wrong question

Look at what the league punished and what it left alone. McKinney's words were sanctioned within days. The explanation of the key play, meanwhile, was that officials considered it dead but the referee couldn't say he heard a whistle. That is an honest answer, and a deeply unsatisfying one.

We aren't saying McKinney was right on every call. We can't know that from the documentation, and players are rarely neutral about flags against their own team. But a fine tells fans the problem is the criticism. The problem is that a referee himself couldn't say for sure whether the play had been blown dead. When the explanation is that murky, a $25,000 penalty for complaining looks less like discipline and more like a gag order.

The league has a case, and it's narrower than it thinks

To be fair, the NFL isn't being irrational. Its rules allow discipline for players who publicly criticize officials. And USA Today's columnist called big fines for coaches who berate referees a needed message, citing former NFL officiating chief Mike Pereira on the limit to how far that mistreatment should go. There is a real argument that officials can't do their jobs if every game ends with a public trial of them.

We buy that argument for abuse and personal attacks. We don't buy it for a player saying a call changed the game. Those are different things, and as we read it, the rule doesn't draw the line between them. If you want to protect referees from harassment, write the rule around harassment. If the rule can also punish a safety for saying two roughing-the-passer flags and an unnecessary roughness call broke his defense's rhythm, then it's protecting the brand.

Transparency is the cheaper fix

Think about the economics for a second. A fine silences one player for one week, and we suspect he becomes a folk hero for paying it. McKinney is a good example: a fan base already angry about the Lions game now has a martyr. The Packers recovered by beating the Panthers, but the story followed him into the postgame room anyway.

A better move would cost the league nothing but pride. Publish the officiating review of contested plays, with the rule cited and the whistle timing explained. Have referees explain more of their decisions after games. Own the misses. Fans forgive errors; what they don't forgive is the feeling that the sport's authority hides behind a penalty schedule.

Our prediction, and it is only that: nothing changes. Players will keep calculating whether a rant is worth five figures, and many will decide it is. Each fine will feed the story that the league fears what players might say more than it fears being wrong.

The verdict

Fine the insults if you must. But stop treating criticism of the officiating as the offense, and start treating unexplained decisions as the one that matters. Until the NFL shows its work on plays like the Wyatt flag, every penalty for speaking out will do the opposite of what it's meant to. It won't protect the game. It will remind everyone who is watching that the league would rather not be questioned.