The Green Bay Packers played a horrible game (especially in the first half), but appeared they would pull out a close win against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

Until the last play.

The official scoring summary will read “Golden Tate 24 Yd Pass From Russell Wilson (Steven Hauschka Kick).”

Final: Seahawks 14, Packers 12.

What happened on that scoring play was that Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate pushed a Green Bay defender out of the way and wrestled with safety M.D. Jennings for the ball. Seattle was awarded a touchdown on the final play. With that touchdown, the hatred for replacement referees peaked (especially in Cheesehead world).

Both players had their hands on the ball and Jennings looked like he had the most control with two hands on the ball. The consensus around the country is that it was an interception and not a touchdown and that it was a terrible call.

Of course, the closest referee looking down at the players on the ground had a better angle for the play. After seeing most of the replays, I did not see a replay where one could see the ball through the whole play. Mike Tirico calling the game for ESPN said the catch was “simultaneous.”To make matters worse, a photo shows one referee gave a touchdown signal while another referee was giving the signal to stop the clock. It was a total mess. A circus atmosphere ensued.

The play was reviewed. The touchdown call was upheld. Seahawks win. Seahawks win.

The Packers left the field and had to bring 11 players back about 10 minutes later for the extra point.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy danced around the issue to keep from getting a fine. In the press conference he said the final play was “Very hard to swallow,” and “I have never seen anything like that in my time in football.”

Of course we had the ex-jocks on ESPN giving their commentary. Their commentary and analysis often resembles what one would hear from fourth graders talking over lunch at their local elementary school.

Maybe we can ask the Presidential candidates during the debate, “Was that a catch or interception?”

Afterwards, it was not pretty on Twitter. Some “fans” went too far and called for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s death. Come on people. Relax. Take a deep breath.

These replacement referees can’t keep up with the faster pace of an NFL game. They, like all officials, are trying to do the best they can, but each week we have seen failures. The players and coaches are adapting to the new style of officiating and it’s not always pretty. The games seem longer. The flow of the game seems to be disrupted. One time during the Packers/Seahawks game I think there were penalties on four straight plays.

This labor dispute with the regular NFL referees being locked out is somewhat typical in the union world. The big difference is that the replacement referees are on TV every week trying to do their jobs and their mistakes are replayed over and over and over.

The whole NFL labor dispute reminds me of labor dispute many years ago that my father was involved with when a company he worked for had a dispute over union contract issues. So, my dad and his fellow workers went on strike. The company thought they could beat the union so they advertised for workers to “run heavy construction equipment” “no experience necessary” and the pay was very good (but not up there with union wages). The company failed to say the workers would have to cross a picket line.

Some people showed up for the jobs and crossed the picket lines. The work slowed because the new workers lacked experience. Mistakes were made. The job was taking longer and the product was not quite up to par with what the union workers produced.

So the company settled with the union after about a month. That is what the NFL needs to do with the NFL Referees Association – hopefully sooner rather than later.

Who knows what the NFL will do about this game or what happened afterwards on Twitter and in the press conference. The anger peaked last night on Monday Night Football. This week would be a great time to give the NFL Referees Association what they are asking for and bring them back in time for next weekend’s games.

The NFL has a good thing going here – it’s my favorite sport. They should ensure it’s not ruined further by the replacement refs.

Update: The NFL released a statement about the play saying, “The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.”  They added, “The result of the game is final.”

Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord