Once a football game is over, it is over--no matter if there were bad officiating calls involved. Teams can complain to the media about it, however, it will not change the outcome. It's not like the NBA, where if one team lodges a protest and it is upheld, the game re-starts from the point of the protest. The NFL has no such protest protocol system.
I don't think that the NBA has ever done that before.
Yes, there have been 35 protests in NBA-ABA history. 8 games have been overturned and were replayed from the point of the protest (6 NBA games and 2 ABA games). The last two NBA protested games were played in 2008 and 1983. Two of the games resulted in the protest team winning the replayed games after losing the original game. One can find this on NBA Hoops Online. There is also a more detailed explanation of each instance on Reddit. I googled "NBA protested games".
So I didn't know this either, but this also in a way disproves that officiating is getting worse. If anything, these protested games from 15 & 40 years ago, the most recent, show that officiating was worse in the past.
I don't think the games were rigged, or even that the refs were deliberately biased, but those were two of the worst-officiated playoff games I can remember. They need to be better.
This has been said about nearly every game this year. Yet, we've had games in the past which lead to rule changes. I don't see that happening with what happened in the playoffs here. A ball ruled a catch that may have not been fully controlled? We have seen that for decades. A late hit out of bounds? The players know the QBs will be protected. Intentional grounding? Many people have no clue what the definition of it is, although it's a bit subjective as to who "is in the area."
As always, I will say the same thing. This was not the worst officiated game in the history of the NFL, nor was it the best. It was pretty average. Intentional grounding, he through it at the feet of an ineligible receiver, you will get called for that all the time. Late hit out of bounds; if you push the face of the NFL when he is standing on the white and he hits the bench, it doesn't matter how soft or hard you touch him, you will get that flag every single time. You can argue whether or not they were ticky tack calls, but the league is consistent with those rules. There were several defensive holding calls in both games that were spot on.
I can't stand hearing people say "they (the officials) need to be better" or "they need to be accountable". There is no group of humans on a field that's more accountable. The players make mistakes, throw interceptions, fumble the ball and they just go back in and play the next down. When the officials make a mistake they are downgraded and about five different league officials and the supervisor of officials all replay that play ad nauseum to the point of exhaustion. The players have one reporter bring up their interception and they act like a baby and don't answer the question. The officials can't do that. They have to take the berating and asked why they are stupid enough to call what they called, and some mistakes cause loss of games or termination. The players and coaches can act like complete animals on the field when something slightly doesn't go their way and everything is fine, but the official has to remain emotionless and stoic even though you know they want to punch the daylights out of the coach or player yelling at them. Then the coach or player come back and say, "I was just emotional", like the guy they were yelling at that actually remained calm doesn't have emotions, but he is grown up enough to keep his emotions in check.
In conclusion, officials have to be accountable of every mistake they make, have to show zero emotion (like laugh or smile because God forbid it can be misconstrued that it looks like they are happy one team is winning, and the other team is losing) run all game (because remember, offensive players get to sit on the bench and jack around when their team is on defense, do the officials get that?), keep up with players half or 3/4 their age, make split second decisions using their rules knowledge and experience, know that every mistake will be extra scrutinized (and for some for the rest of their lives) while the players and coaches can make mistakes right and left and no craps are given (or they just blame it on the officials) and in the end always keep their cool and defuse the situation when things go awry but yet "they have to do better"? Seems like the way these punks act, they don't deserve the level of officiating they get.
