diff --git a/libavcodec/h264_slice.c b/libavcodec/h264_slice.c
index d56722a5c2..fd0c6401b0 100644
--- a/libavcodec/h264_slice.c
+++ b/libavcodec/h264_slice.c
@@ -1551,7 +1551,7 @@ static int h264_field_start(H264Context *h, const H264SliceContext *sl,
 
     sps = h->ps.sps;
 
-    if (sps && sps->bitstream_restriction_flag &&
+    if (sps->bitstream_restriction_flag &&
         h->avctx->has_b_frames < sps->num_reorder_frames) {
         h->avctx->has_b_frames = sps->num_reorder_frames;
     }