Tennessee Titans 'cursed by officiating' as players react to bad calls vs. Vikings

The Tennessee Titans fought valiantly in Sunday's 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Despite an excellent performance from quarterback Will Levis and a respectable defensive effort, the Titans could not overcome multiple occurrences of egregious officiating.

It truly felt like the Titans were penalized at every pivotal moment of the game on Sunday. Explosive offensive plays were called back and timely defensive stops were always followed by flags. 

While Tennessee was penalized 13 times, Minnesota was only flagged three times. There were "illegal formation" penalties after a 51-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Ridley and a clutch 23-yard connection from Levis to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. 

When Tennessee came up with a big stop on 4th-and-Goal from the 1-yard-line, a clean hit by safety Mike Brown was called as unnecessary roughness. It was a call so bad that Brian Callahan didn't' hesitate to storm onto the field and rip into the presiding officials. 

Even the Minnesota Vikings players knew they got away with one. Brown told me after the game that multiple Vikings players told him they knew it was a bad call and a lucky break for their sideline. 

"I just tried to make play. I didn't hear any explanation. All my teammates on the sideline just told me good play and they didn't think it was a flag. But the referees called a flag, so not much you can do," said Brown after the game. "Even some of the players I know from Minnesota came up to me and thought it was a bad call. But it's just part of the game. Everything doesn't go your way."

Brown has the right mentality to not dwell on that call, but it truly changed the game. It makes it impossible for struggling teams like the Titans to beat a rolling Vikings squad. Especially when it's a series of egregious mistakes and not just one error. 

That seems to be happening all too often for the Titans lately. Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said postgame that he feels like the Titans are "cursed" by officiating at the moment. 

Last week against the Chargers, a controversial call overturned a Titans fumble recovery and defesnive touchdown. It was ruled an incomplete pass and most fans began to wonder... Would these calls still be going against Tennessee if they were wining more games or playing in a bigger market?