San Francisco 49ers fans aren’t the only ones unhappy with the officiating in their 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira didn’t hold anything back when describing the phantom timeout before the final 49ers’ punt. It was just one of many terrible calls that added to the 49ers’ lengthy list of mistakes to doom them.

It’s essential to reiterate that officiating did not cost the 49ers the game. We’ve already discussed how badly the offense played and that Geno Smith scamper. Those are the reasons they lost.

But the two are not mutually exclusive.

The big blunder is a phantom timeout. The 49ers found themselves in a fourth-and-6 situation and went to punt. The Seahawks called a timeout following the catch by Jauan Jennings. No problem, they want to stop the clock.

The timeout ended, and everyone lined up for the punt. Then, the officials stopped the game again. A discussion followed, taking more minutes of our lives. The clock started up again without an explanation.

If you’re like me, you probably said, “What the hell was that?” Usually, stoppages like that are followed by the official explaining what happened.

Well, what happened was the Seahawks did call a timeout—a second timeout. You can’t do that. Back-to-back timeouts are a five-yard penalty.

Instead, it got swept under the rug.

So there’s the setup; was it subjective? Should the Seahawks have been penalized?

“It is clear Seattle asked for a second timeout,” Mike Pereira said via KNBR. “What you are to do when a team asks for a timeout when they are not entitled to it; either they are out of timeouts, or they already called one in that same dead-ball period, what you do is ignore it. Now, it didn’t get ignored; it got granted. So what is the rule? Is it a do-over at that point because the officials erroneously granted that? No, it is a five-yard penalty. Even though the official shouldn’t have stopped it, it’s a five-yard penalty when he does. That’s a rule.”

So why the rule? Simple. Why should the Seahawks, or anyone, be able to stop the clock whenever they want when they shouldn’t in the first place? Why should the other team be penalized? If the refs screw this up, the team that caused it should be on the brunt of it.

“To me, it’s one of those unforgivables,” Pereira said.

Had the officials done their job, it would have been fourth-and-1 on the Seahawks’ 36-yard line. That could have set up for a Jake Moody field goal, or the 49ers could try to get a single yard and possibly ice the game with a first down. This isn’t a judgment call; this is an actual rule.

“Judgment is hard,” Pereira said. “Rule is not.”

I’ve defended the Seahawks before on calls. Not this time. This wasn’t the only blown call of the day that benefitted them.

There’s the roughing call toward the end of the second quarter on 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir after Kenneth Walker III body-slammed him.

Both were flagged with offset penalties and a video that brought Seahawk fans out of the woodwork. It’s subjective, depending on what you think the correct course of action here is. From my point of view, Walker and Lenoir were shoving at the whistle—that’s a breakup by the refs. Body-slamming the guy is a personal foul on Walker.

Walker should have been ejected. Or, at the very least, the only one with a foul. I’ve seen enough scrums where the officials break it up and move on. I’m not an official, and that is subjective, especially when it concerns where they saw things begin. The NFL still won’t automatically stop the game and review fights unless New York buzzes in, so when and where is a mystery.

The next bad call was a challenge on the Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Apparently, having your toes out of bounds when you catch the ball is fair game for the Seahawks.

On 2nd & 9, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith threw a ball to Smith-Njigba, who had his toes out of bounds. The pass was ruled complete, and Kyle Shanahan threw the challenge flag. The call was upheld, and we went to the series of third and fourth down stands where everyone was mad about the spot of the ball. It shouldn’t have gotten to that point.

Many will call the spot of the ball on those above the third and fourth down stands. No, the ball was spotted fine on both downs.

This completion/incompletion subjectivity happened again when the Seahawks took the field, and wide receiver DK Metcalf made another catch, but one of his feet looked like it was not grounded until out of bounds. That second call is less obvious, and I can get the officiating crew holding that one up. I think he was out of bounds, but it’s not something to get angry about because that opinion will change based on who you talk to. It’s not clear and obvious.

Any way you want to look at it here, the Seahawks got away with one. Had their timeout been granted, the NFL at least could have removed it, which would have given them one less timeout in the final drive and changed the entire course of the game. I mean, if we are making up rules here, let’s make some fair ones if we aren’t going to penalize the Seahawks.

The 49ers had plenty of opportunities to circumvent this and prevent the officials from being a non-factor. However, it is still infuriating that they seem to be on the receiving end of terrible calls more often than not.