The Pittsburgh Steelers will have four officials working their second NFL game of the day when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football. And if that sounds like a strange way to handle one of the biggest AFC North games of the season, well, you're not wrong.
Friday's FAA ground stop threw a wrench into the NFL's travel plans, forcing the league to shuffle officiating assignments to keep everyone within driving distance of their games. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the best solution was to have four officials work Dolphins-Colts in Indianapolis before hopping in a car and heading to Cincinnati.
That's quite a Sunday, especially considering the Steelers and Bengals are both 6-2 and playing for first place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh has enough to worry about without wondering whether the guys throwing flags will be running on fumes.
Clete Blakeman's removal gives Pittsburgh Steelers fans one reason for relief in Cincinnati Bengals game
Don Willard, Terry Killens, Jabir Walker, and Justin Larrew will work the 1 p.m. Dolphins-Colts game before making the roughly 113-mile drive to Cincinnati for the 8:20 p.m. kickoff.
Under normal circumstances, that's about two hours in the car. Not terrible. But these guys aren't exactly grabbing lunch in Indianapolis before heading down I-74.
They're officiating an entire NFL game first.
And what happens if Dolphins-Colts goes into overtime? A game tied 3-3 after four quarters (this is a matchup between a 1-7 and 2-7 team, after all) could turn into a real headache.
Suddenly, that already tight turnaround gets even tighter. The officials still have to finish their first game, get to Cincinnati, and prepare to work another four quarters.
This could lead to fatigue and blown calls. In other words, a normal Sunday.
There's also an interesting twist for Steelers fans who have had their fill of Clete Blakeman.
ESPN's Brooke Pryor reported the officiating switch, which takes Blakeman off the Steelers-Bengals assignment and puts Willard in charge instead.
Pittsburgh hasn't exactly had the greatest luck with Blakeman officiating its games, including the Week 4 loss to Cleveland. That might be the one part of this officiating mess that Steelers fans actually appreciate.
Blakeman's penalty numbers offer some interesting context, especially with Pittsburgh playing on the road. According to NFL Penalties referee statistics, his crew penalized visiting teams 119 times compared to 99 for home teams in 2025. That's not exactly the split Steelers fans want to see heading into Cincinnati.
Willard, meanwhile, doesn't have a comparable season-long record as a head referee because he normally works as a side judge. So there's no reliable statistical argument that Pittsburgh is getting a more favorable official. The numbers reflect entire crews, anyway, not just the referee making the announcements.
There's no guarantee Willard will be any better. Handling a side judge head ref duty, let alone referee duties twice in one day, isn't exactly the ideal way to prepare for a primetime rivalry game.
The NFL deserves some credit for figuring out a solution to a travel mess it didn't create. Rearranging officiating crews must've been a logistical nightmare.
But the Steelers and Bengals are fighting for control of the AFC North. The last thing either team needs is a questionable call from an official who's already spent three hours chasing players around Indianapolis and another two sitting in traffic.
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