I'm feeling way too lazy to try and find years-old threads about the topic of steering games, but plenty of people around here over the years have told me I'm an idiot for thinking that once in a while, officials DO steer a little bit. They're not idiots, it can't be real obvious, but I do believe it happens.
Now who's the idiot?
The entire history of the human race is little more than proof of corruption and immoral behavior, all the way from small localized stuff to massive and pervasive multiple-country-spanning levels. Anybody who thinks that has recently changed or will change is a moron.
I will repeat this factoid again: The NFL is legally classified as SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT. The supreme court ruled that the NFL and its teams are separate legal economic entities, which means the NFL can't directly steer outcomes, but what the **** do you think tends to happen if someone like Goodell walks over to the refs and just happens to say where they can hear, "Man, I really hope the Chiefs win this one" or some crap like that? Nothing actionably illegal about it, but if you think officials just ignore subtle cues like that, then grow the hell up and realize what the human race is already.
Rant over. Inbound idiots who will claim my statement is preposterous.
