PFWA Pool Reporter Nolan Bianchi Interview with NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth
Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Question: What was initially called on the field and did two officials rule two different things (on the pass from Jared Goff to Isaac TeSlaa late in the second quarter)?
Mark Butterworth: They ruled that it was a completed catch with the receiver out of bounds. The impact of that ruling is the clock stopped because they ruled him out of bounds. If they ruled him in bounds with the catch the clock would continue to run. We stopped the game through replay to confirm the catch, which we were able to do. We confirmed there was contact by the defense after he controlled the ball, and we had his leg in bounds prior to going out of bounds. Therefore, the clock should have continued to run. So, we reset the clock to the down by contact time and then ran 10 seconds.
Question: How did replay come to that decision?
Butterworth: “We used various angles and were able to confirm he completed the process of the catch. We used two different angles to show that the defender’s right arm did contact the receiver after he controlled the ball.”
Question: When the team with the ball is out of timeouts, is it obligatory to run 10 seconds off the clock after replay?
Butterworth: “Neither team can decline the 10-second run off, but they can take a team timeout to avoid the 10-second run off.”
