The Detroit Lions’ Week 17 game against the San Francisco 49ers will feature one of the NFL’s more well-known referees, Shawn Hochuli, as the lead official. Shawn is the son of former longtime NFL referee Ed Hochuli.
This will be the second Lions game Shawn has officiated this season, the first being Detroit’s victory over Indianapolis on November 12. That game saw a total of 15 penalties, with 10 called against the Colts and five against the Lions.
Hochuli’s officiating crew has consistently called a high number of penalties this season, with double-digit flags thrown in all but one of their games. On seven occasions, his crew has called at least 15 penalties in a game, including a season-high 20 during a Week 13 matchup between the Bengals and Steelers. Overall, Hochuli’s crew ranks fourth in penalties called this season with 202, plus 48 declined penalties, for a total of 250 flags, the third-highest in the NFL. The most frequently called infraction by his crew is false start (50 instances), followed by offensive holding (43) and defensive pass interference (13).
Hochuli, who became a lead official in 2018, has officiated one playoff game in each of the past four seasons. Among his notable assignments was the 2021 divisional-round game where the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers en route to their Super Bowl victory.
In his career, Hochuli has officiated eight Lions games, with Detroit holding a 3-5 record in those contests, including a 1-0 record this season. His father, Ed Hochuli, served as an NFL referee for 28 seasons, from 1990 to 2017.
