Week 5 Officiating: Meet Carl Cheffers and Crew
Name: Carl Cheffers
Age: 66
Promoted To Referee: 2008
Last Game: 10/04/26 NYJ @ CHI
The New York Jets committed 12 penalties for 76 yards. They were flagged a total of 13 times.
The Chicago Bears committed 4 penalties for 29 yards. They were flagged a total of 5 times.
Together there were 16 penalties for 105 yards. There were 18 total flags in this game.
Last Lions Game: 12/21/25 – PIT 29 @ DET 24
The Pittsburgh Steelers committed 8 penalties for 89 yards. They were flagged a total of 9 times.
The Detroit Lions committed 7 penalties for 40 yards. They were flagged a total of 9 times.
Together there were 15 penalties for 129 yards. There were 18 total flags in this game.
Notable
If the trends hold true, this crew will throw lots of flags Sunday, and as the away team, the Lions will get even more than the Cardinals despite both being in the bottom third of the NFL in penalties. Both the Lions and Cardinals penalties in 2026 align with the crew's top five, including both for False Start, Offensive Holding and DPI, while the Lions line up with Delay of Game and for the Cards, Unnecessary Roughness.
The last time the Lions saw Cheffers crew was Week 16 home loss to the Steelers last year, where there were 18 total flags thrown (9 on each team.) Last week though, Cheffers crew just derailed the Jets/Bears game with 18 total flags, including a whopping 12 on the Jets. False start has been this crew favorite penalty, even with all of the changes since 2026. There is a new Down Judge (Derick Bowers), a new Side Judge (Dominique Ponder) and new Replay Official (Marty Abezetian) and Replay Assistant (Brian Davies).
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