As if the Saints aren't struggling enough to play their NFL opponents, some fans believe they are also having to battle the refs after a few questionable calls that led to scores for Minnesota in Week 4.

In the fourth quarter of Sunday's Saints-Vikings game in London, officials flagged the defensive back for "illegal hands to the face" on a play that would have been a huge third-down stop by the New Orleans Saints defense.

Instead of getting off the field, the Vikings were awarded a first down and the drive continued—eventually resulting in a go-ahead touchdown (thanks, in part, to another questionable penalty) for Minnesota that put them up 25-22.

According to the replay, Mathieu only appeared to make contact with the shoulder pads of the Vikings receiver, making the official's call of illegal hands to the face a questionable one.

Although it wasn't nearly as egregious, a PI call on Marshon Lattimore put the ball at the goal line for Minnesota; giving the Vikings an easy path to the end zone.

After the game, Mathieu was asked about the penalty—saying that he knew "he didn't" touch the Vikings player in the face.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen bit his lip before giving a very political answer to questions about the call.

Bad calls happen to all teams, but these two were backbreakers for a Saints team battling for a win in a close game—on the same drive no less.

There was also a disproportionate amount of flags thrown against New Orleans in comparison to penalties called on the Vikings. Obviously, the Saints have had no shortage of shooting themselves in the foot, but the number of penalties coupled with the timing of the flags had a lot of Saints fans sitting with that familiar feeling in their guts.

Again, while the Saints have plenty of other problems to remedy, these two calls would end up having a tremendous impact on a close game that ended with one of the craziest field goal misses I've ever seen.

A clip posted by Boot Krewe Media on Twitter showed both calls side by side.

While the calls sucked, the Saints did continue to battle, but is now the time that fans want to just shrug off terrible calls when the Saints are now sitting at 1-3?

Former Saints WR Lance Moore is just as familiar with how bad calls can affect the game as anyone; pointing out the trend of bad calls against the Saints that have tremendous effects on the outcome of the game.

Since it's possible for two things to be true at the same time, Moore also pointed out that the Saints simply aren't a good football team right now.

What are your thoughts on the calls? What are your thoughts on the team right now? Sound off in the comments as we get through this Saints struggle together.

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