While it stopped just short of declaring open season on zebras, a rash of late-season officiating blunders has the National Football League running for cover. In an effort to redeem its image, the league, which has resisted reliance on television replays for the past seven years, could return to some form of review by instant replay for the post-season play-offs which start in January.

Until the past two weeks the men in striped shirts had enjoyed a relatively tranquil autumn. Oh, there had been a couple of phantom holding calls which helped San Francisco defeat Indianapolis in an October game, but the subsequent admission that its seven-man officiating crew had erred in that one was seen by most as a refreshing display of candour.

Then came the embarrassing moment in Michigan two weeks ago. After the Pittsburgh Steelers and the host Detroit Lions finished tied at the end of regulation play, referee Phil Luckett assembled the teams' captains at midfield for the ceremonial coin toss which would determine who got the ball first in the sudden-death overtime period.

Instructed to "call it in the air," Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis clearly called "tails," only to be informed by Luckett that he had called "heads." All across America, viewers were choking on their Thanksgiving turkey at the apparent miscarriage of justice, which became magnified moments later. The Lions took the kick-off, marched into range, and kicked a field goal to win the game without the Steelers, who by rights had WON the toss, ever getting an opportunity to touch the ball.

Three days later in Foxboro, Massachusetts, another crew of zebras conspired to bungle another game. The Buffalo Bills were nursing a 21-17 lead with time running out when New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe, facing fourth-and-nine, "completed" a sideline pass to Shawn Jefferson for a first down. Most observers believed, and replays subsequently confirmed, that not only were Jefferson's feet out of bounds, but that in all likelihood he was short of the first-down marker as well. But the call stood.

Six seconds remained on the clock. Watching from the visiting owner's box, Ralph Wilson, the Bills' octogenarian patriarch, turned to his daughter and said "Watch. Bledsoe is going to throw a Hail Mary, and we're going to get called for pass interference."

"I wish I could call the stock market like that," said Wilson after his dire forecast came true. Although pushing and jostling on both sides is commonplace on last-ditch passes such as this one, it almost never results in a penalty. This time it did.

Although time had expired, the Patriots were given one last opportunity from the one yard-line as a result of the pass-interference penalty. Bledsoe threw a touchdown pass to Ben Coates, Buffalo lost the game, and in the press box, Ralph Wilson positively exploded, venting his frustration for any reporter who would listen.

A few days later, claiming that Wilson's public criticisms had resulted in `destructive and corrosive effects on the game,' NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue hit the Buffalo owner with a $50,000 fine.

Then last Sunday, the New York Jets were the beneficiary of yet another egregious call, this one resulting in a last-minute touchdown being awarded to New York Jets' quarterback Vinny Testaverde, even though replays showed Testaverde had come down a half-yard short of the goal line.

Although the call which gave the Jets a 32-31 victory was made by head linesman Earnie Frantz, the crew in question was once again that of the beleaguered Luckett, the future of whose officiating career must now be considered precarious.

A day afterward, Jerry Seeman, the NFL's director of officials, conceded the error. Seeman told Seattle coach Dennis Erickson that Frantz had mistaken Testaverde's white helmet for the brown football when he saw it break the plane of the goal line. We're only guessing here, but we suspect this explanation was of small comfort to the Seahawks.

The three games in question significantly impacted the post-season picture. Pittsburgh, a play-off team in each of the past five seasons, have lost two straight since the infamous coin-toss and probably won't qualify. New England, by contrast, who would effectively have been eliminated had they lost to Buffalo, instead remain in the thick of the hunt. And last Sunday the Jets, who would have tumbled into a three-way tie for second place in the AFC East in the absence of the phantom touchdown call, instead remained tied with Miami (whom they face on Sunday) for the divisional lead. The same call effectively ended Seattle's season.

As bad as the officiating was, the Buffalo-New England zebras actually caught a break in another respect. Although Las Vegas had listed the Patriots early 31/2-point favourites, uncertainty over Bledsoe's status (he played with a broken index finger on his throwing hand) led most bookies to take the game off the board. As it happened, the touchdown after time had expired put New England up by two. When the officials cleared the field and ordered the try for the extra point, Buffalo coach Wade Phillips defiantly kept his team in its dressing room. The Patriots then lined up without opposition, and place-kicker Adam Vinatieri ran the ball in for a two-point conversion that made the final margin of victory four points.

Had a significant amount of money changed hands on THAT little postscript, the outcry would have been even more outraged than it was. In the absence of a betting coup, it is generally accepted that the Buffalo-New England zebras were motivated not by larceny, but by mere stupidity.

The NFL, whose practice is usually to defend its officiating crews, conceded the probability of error in all three instances. A directive for the next week altered the time-honoured pre-game ritual so that now teams must make their call before the coin is tossed.

Seeman also taped a critique which was distributed to NFL game officials, a copy of which was inevitably leaked to Sports Illustrated. Among other things, the director of officials blasted the performance of the Buffalo-New England crew in no uncertain terms: "We don't determine the outcome of games," Seeman reminded his charges in a voice-over to the final play of regulation. "There is no foul. It's incomprehensible as much as we prepare . . . when we make such a blatant error in judgment we deserve the criticism we get. . . . Under no condition should an official or officials ever be involved in a situation like that again."

From 1986 until 1991 the NFL did have in place a system of review by instant replay. It was discarded as too unwieldy, since it resulted in unnecessary delays and was frequently inconclusive. In each of the past half- dozen years the league has narrowly failed to approve its return. Last March, a proposed new replay system got 21 of 30 votes, two short of the 23 needed - and one of the opponents was Buffalo's Wilson.

Replays will unquestionably be adopted for the 1999 season. The question now is whether the league can implement a workable system in time for next month's playoffs. The league revealed on Monday that it is considering a form of replay. The format would give each team two challenges plus an emergency challenge at the discretion of the referee in the last two minutes, and the final decision would be made by the referee, viewing a sideline monitor.