The day after his longtime rival Chicago Bears beat his former team in the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers was smack-dab in the middle of an awkward predicament. If he and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, the Bears would clinch a playoff berth.
But, he couldn't worry about that at a time when the Steelers were fighting for their playoff lives. Pittsburgh needed this win, just like they've needed every other win, regardless of who it's been over. And, it came down to the very final play of the game in Detroit.
On a 4th-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Detroit's offense came up short on what started as a pretty normal play, but ended up being wild, all things considered. After the game, Rodgers addressed the play in his postgame interview on the live broadcast.
"Looks like there's an OPI. Looks like forward progress is stopped," he said, simply.
Aaron Rodgers saw the final play of the Pittsburgh Steelers' wild win exactly like it happened
On that fourth down, Lions quarterback Jared Goff dropped back to pass and hit Amon-Ra St. Brown, who caught it at the 1-yard line and was quickly swarmed upon by Steelers defenders. St. Brown's progress was stopped as he was pushed backward, but then he flipped the ball back to Goff on a whim, who ran it into the end zone.
The problem, though, came just before St. Brown tossed it back to Goff. Flags were thrown, so we would have to wait for an explanation.
After what seemed like an eternity, the officials finally came to a decision and made the announcement that it was, indeed, a touchdown, but there was also offensive pass interference by the Lions on wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa.
Therefore, the game was over and the Steelers won.
So, although Rodgers' explanation of the play seemed very matter-of-fact, it's because that's exactly what it was. The play was very self-explanatory upon another watch.
Simply viewing the replay, it is blatant and obvious to see that St. Brown's forward progress was absolutely, positively stopped before he even tossed the football back to Goff. So, even without the offensive pass interference, the play wouldn't have counted.
For the Lions fans vehemently booing and continuing to shout into the abyss that is social media, it doesn't take much to watch said replay and thus get a very obvious explanation -- just as Rodgers gave the viewers live on the broadcast.
There was pass interference on the play. Forward progress was stopped. It was fourth down. The Lions didn't convert.
Game over. Simple.