Refs made not one, but two of the worst calls of the year in Chargers-Broncos

The LA Chargers put together one of the most dominant halves of football in recent team memory in the first half of Week 6's win over the Denver Broncos. Then the second half happened, and the Broncos were able to claw back and make it a one-score game.

While Denver never actually had the ball down just one score, Chargers fans were still panicking as the game went along thanks to the jaded history of the franchise. If there was ever a game for the Chargers to lose, it would have been after the most dominant half of football in years.

As bad as it looked on paper (and as stressful as it was in the moment) the Chargers did not play bad football in the second half. Los Angeles smartly went into clock-killing mode, and when you really look at it, the Broncos were gifted their scores by none other than the NFL officials.

This was highlighted by Courtland Sutton's impressive one-handed grab that was ruled a touchdown and confirmed via replay. CBS' Gene Steratore spent over a minute explaining to fans why it wasn't a catch, for obvious reasons, only for the NFL to ignore those reasons and confirm the touchdown. See for yourself:

Look, it was an impressive catch there is no denying that. But there also is no denying the fact the ball hit the white line outside the endzone and was essentially trapped between Sutton's body and the ground. By rule, that is not a catch.

NFL referees gifted Broncos not one, but two touchdowns vs. Chargers

As if one questionable call was not enough, the Broncos were also the beneficiaries of another officiating gaffe that directly resulted in a touchdown.

Before the Sutton play ever happened, when it was still a 23-0 game, Bo Nix dropped back to pass on first and goal and found Tony Franklin in the back of the endzone for the touchdown. It was an obvious catch, so there is no controversy there, but there was a pretty blatant hold that was missed on the offensive line.

Khalil Mack beat his man off the line of scrimmage and was effectively put in a chokehold as he was going after Nix. Mack either would have recorded the sack to force second and goal from outside the 10, or the referees should have called the touchdown back for what had to be the worst hold of the week.

There are so many ticky-tacky holds that do not get called and that is fine. That is part of the sport. This was as blatant as blatant gets.

It is impossible to know what would have happened if the correct calls were made in both instances. Denver very well could have ended up scoring those touchdowns. Or they could have kicked field goals.

But either way, the 23-16 score is not indicative of this game whatsoever. This was domination from the Chargers, and it took officiating help for the Broncos to even make it close.