Pereira knows the pressure Super Bowl officials face

Mike Pereira knows the pressure Carl Cheffers and his officiating crew will be under during Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

That’s because he either hired or promoted most of them.

As the NFL’s vice president of officiating in 2008, Pereira promoted Cheffers from side judge to referee. After 14 years with the league, Pereira retired and joined Fox in 2010 as a rules analyst.

Pereira’s move to television paved the way for officials to continue to lend their expertise once they left the field. It has also increased scrutiny on officials with each replay decision or close call analyzed.

Pereira, who will be in the booth for his fifth Super Bowl with Fox, knows that a call in the biggest game of the season is the last thing an official wants to be known for.

“I have always felt you are remembered by your performance in the Super Bowl,” Pereira said. “There’s no doubt that each of those guys on the field feels the pressure. I think every official likes a challenge.”

Fox went into uncharted waters by hiring Pereira, so much so that neither party knew his role during the week. The original plan was for Pereira to write a column and create a video rulebook online so fans could learn the rules. It was a last-minute decision by thenFox Sports president David Hill before the 2010 openers to have Pereira in the studio in Los Angeles in case there was a play that needed a rules interpretation.

Pereira’s role has expanded to most weeks in the booth with Fox’s top broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen.

Dean Blandino, who worked under Pereira in the league office and eventually became VP of officiating, said there was a little trepidation when Pereira moved to Fox because of the unknown.

“I think ultimately it became a positive and allowed someone with that expertise to explain things rather than have fans sit at home wondering what just happened,” said Blandino, who joined Fox in 2017. “They might disagree with the call or the rule, but at least they understand the basic concept.”

John Parry, who has been with ESPN since 2019, said the opinion of officials at the time Pereira started at Fox was good because it gave viewers a window into the decision-making process.

Opinions about rules analysts have also, at times, become polarizing, depending on the officials’ performances. During the conference championship games, the hashtag #NFLRigged was trending on social media because of what many deemed to be poor calls.