Back in Week 8, NFL officials flagged Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton at a key moment in an eventual loss to the New York Jets.

Officials accused Hilton of lowering his head and endangering an offensive player who, funnily enough, lowered his head to match, resulting in a collision. The officiating crew had to comment on the situation after the game. It won a “Dumb Penalty Of The Week” award. Bengals players were instructed not to talk about it. The only admission the NFL got it wrong was by not fining Hilton for the hit.

And a few weeks later, now the NFL has given Hilton an award — for essentially the same play.

Hilton went for the middle of the defender’s body during last weekend’s loss to the Chargers, got his head out of the way and made a play. The NFL gave him a weekly award as a result:

That is…nearly an identical play to the one flagged against the Jets, except this time the ball-carrier didn’t lower his head, too.

It just goes to show the NFL doesn’t really have any idea how to iron out the inconsistencies in officiating on a game-to-game basis, which is flat-out unacceptable in 2021 given the technology available.

And while it’s nice the NFL seems to have essentially admitted its mistake again, the Bengals won’t care — the flag against the Jets came late in the fourth quarter on a third-down stop that would have given Joe Burrow and Co. the ball back with two timeouts and a three-point deficit to erase. It might be the difference between a 5-3 record in the AFC right now and a 6-2 mark, which is a big deal in playoff seedings.