If I screw up at work as bad as those refs did, I don't have a job. One of the refs back there had to see the early hit. And this was not one of those "maybe it was, maybe it wasn't" calls. A blind man facing away from the play could have seen this. This was a hard fought game. Both teams played hard, both made good plays and bad plays, but at the most crucial time of the game, in one of the biggest games of the year, a supposedly good group of referees can't make a call on the most obvious penalty I've ever seen. Plays like this are why people think refs are paid off. Fire the whole crew!From a fan's perspective, what do you feel is the appropriate level of accountability for a miss like that? Do you only hold the deep official who has primary coverage on that call but due to angle can't always tell the timing of the contact with the location of the ball? The back judge and short wing have secondary coverage and both would have a much better angle on the location of the ball in relation to the contact. Are they all treated the same? The referee is focused on the QB and has no idea what happens downfield. He'll hear the fans booing but they boo all the time. Does he face any accountability?
How much of an impact does the timing of the call make when it comes to accountability? What if that happened midway through the third quarter? Is it any less wrong then? What if the Saints actually stop the Rams on the last drive and win the game or win in OT? Does that change how you hold the official(s) accountable?
If you say they should be fired and never work in the NFL again, what about the DE from the Chiefs who was called for offsides late in their game? His mistake impacted that game just as much as this no-call impacted the NFC game. Should he be cut and never signed by another team as well? It's not a perfect analogy but you can draw parallels.
Keep in mind the officials working yesterday were graded in the top 3 of their position this year and had worked a combined 70 playoff games prior to this week. They had already proven they were the best of the best. Does all that go away because of one really bad judgement error?