Bengals fans sign petition to investigate wild-card loss

From the strange but true file.

An online petition posted by an admitted "bitter fan" calling for the NFL to investigate the Bengals' 18-16 wild-card loss Saturday to the Pittsburgh Steelers had received nearly 17,000 signatures

Credit: John Boyle

Credit: John Boyle

as of 2 p.m. Monday.

Jamaal Spivey, who cites officiating inconsistencies in the game, posted the petition

"Any real football football fan has to admit there was a lot of shadiness surrounding this game," he writes. "This is more than being upset with a loss."

Believe it or not, there is a portion of the NFL rule book -- Rule 17, Article 2 -- devoted to Extraordinarily Unfair Acts.

The Commissioner has the sole authority to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which he deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game.

Of course, that's not going to happen in this case, Bengals fans.

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