The Kansas City Chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl for the third straight time, cementing the franchise as the modern day dynasty-to-beat, not unlike the New England Patriots of the aughts and 2010’s.
And not unlike those Patriots teams of yore, there’s an awful lot of controversy surrounding the Chiefs’ sustained success and whatever role the referees play in it.
That controversy only got worse after the team’s 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game on Sunday.
In fact, it was actually the New York Post that appeared to best sum up fan frustration with what happened Sunday night: It’s “[h]ard to fully appreciate Chiefs’ greatness when every questionable call goes their way.”
Hard to fully appreciate Chiefs’ greatness when every questionable call goes their way https://t.co/HkIC9Qj4LD pic.twitter.com/HNA3iPupQC
— New York Post (@nypost) January 27, 2025
That was probably the biggest talking point to emerge from a game where the Chiefs just punched their ticket to potential immortality (no NFL team has won three Super Bowls in a row, like the Chiefs now have a chance to do), and the NFL can’t be thrilled about that.
But for as unhappy as the NFL may be, fans of the sport seem even more apoplectic after — once again — “every questionable call” just happened to break in favor of the dynastic Chiefs.
Do you think this was a bad call?
Yes: 87% (197 Votes)
No: 13% (30 Votes)
And no example of that was more controversial than what happened in the fourth quarter of the game when Bills quarterback Josh Allen appeared (the operative term) to convert a 4th down quarterback sneak.
That is … until he didn’t, in a call and review that stunned CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Tony Romo:
The Chiefs go-ahead TD drive was set up by a ruling that Josh Allen did not get a Bills first down.
Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Gene Steratore react to the ruling.
“Wow.” – Romo
“I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football…” -Steratore
“I agree.” – Nantz 🏈🦓🎙️ https://t.co/R4Xs0phM0P pic.twitter.com/8xvT1t1rdn
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 27, 2025
That call proved to be the fatal one for the Bills, as Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes promptly engineered a go-ahead touchdown drive that would give Kansas City the lead for good.
Exacerbating matters, it appears that the referee with the better view of the ball was overruled:
The refs running in with two different spots — and the Chiefs getting the benefit of the spot and the stop on 4th down — is going to be the number one discussion from this game. pic.twitter.com/StCc5WFH9U
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 27, 2025
But it was hardly the only head-scratching moment from the referees.
Here’s a pretty blatant and obvious delay of game penalty that was just … magically not assessed:
🚨🚨THIS IS CRAZY🚨🚨
THE CLOCK HIT DOUBLE ZERO AND THE #CHIEFS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PENALIZED… INSTEAD THE REFS LET THE CLOWN RUNDOWN TO THE 2-MINUTE WARNING.
LITERALLY A CLEAR DELAY OF GAME AND THE REFS DO NOT CALL IT.#BILLS GET SCREWED 🤯🤯🤯pic.twitter.com/92MHYut7fR
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 27, 2025
Just before that phantom delay of game, here’s an incompletion that was somehow ruled complete, despite the receiver not having control of the ball and the ground clearly helping him:
Even though this ball hit the ground and neither player had complete possession the refs rule that this was a catch by Xavier Worthy. pic.twitter.com/VuCbWzA6tH
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) January 27, 2025
Here’s Taylor Swift’s boyfriend blatantly taunting his opponents and somehow drawing a penalty on the Bills with a pro-wrestling-like flop:
Bills called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kelce was talking in Hamlin’s face. Phillips came over and hit Kelce in the helmet and got flagged pic.twitter.com/DjjlFZ94V0
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) January 27, 2025
Any one of these incidents in isolation, and perhaps NFL fans chalk it up to human error.
But in totality? It’s got NFL fans openly wondering if they should boycott the biggest NFL game of the year:
Please Boycott the Super Bowl with me. Never seen such horrible calls going consistently to favor one team.
— steve cook (@stevecook) January 27, 2025
To all NFL Fans, it is our job to make sure this is the LEAST watched Super Bowl ever.
BOYCOTT #SuperBowlLIX #SuperBowl2025 pic.twitter.com/hhY9MkS3vT
— Lions Superfan Carl McJenkins (@CarlMcJenkins) January 27, 2025
To be clear, the Bills made plenty of blunders on their own (including head coach Sean McDermott’s stubborn insistence on using Josh Allen quarterback sneaks when the Chiefs obviously had that specific play totally sniffed out and neutralized):
This is the worst play I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/zD0bei1Or0
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 27, 2025
And yes, overwhelming success often begets overwhelming jealousy (this writer is a Patriots fan, so I’ve seen this song and dance before).
But the NFL clearly has an officiating problem on its hands — even if it’s merely perception.
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