As long as the score was close the officials called a relatively fair game. Once score got lopsided enough to encourage people to no longer watch they used the yellow hankies to tighten up the score and keep viewers.
San Fran intercepts a KC scoring drive in the early fourth quarter pretty much assuring viewers would consider it a game over and leave. Amazingly on third down Garapolo is smashed to with the ground with full helmet to helmet contact. No flag because KC getting the ball back keeps viewers.
Will the Super bowl ever be truly earned again? I'm a Chiefs fan so my bias tends to the Chiefs. Without the officials they probably would never have won the game. Shame we can never know because they will ALWAYS do that unless the fans stop it.
Kris