Another week, another controversial Kansas City Chiefs’ win in the NFL playoffs.
Just like after last week’s Divisional Round victory over the Houston Texans, the NFL is under fire following Kansas City’s win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, as some fans felt the game was “rigged” and featured “blatant cheating.”
NFL Gets Called Out for Chiefs’ Controversial Victory Over the Bills
After the Chiefs’ win in the AFC Championship Game, more and more people are speaking out against the NFL’s poor officiating. While fans hoped the refs in the Conference Championship clash would be better than what has been on display in the earlier rounds, this, unfortunately, wasn’t the case.
There were multiple questionable calls, but one of the worst misses was when the refs called a completed pass to Xavier Worthy when the ball hit the ground.
noticing pic.twitter.com/YRtPcWomDL
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 27, 2025
A “Rate the Refs” account also provided more context for this play, which truly highlights how poor of a call it was.
“Even though this ball hit the ground and neither player had complete possession the refs rule that this was a catch by Xavier Worthy,” the account posted.
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
Frank Fleming (AKA “Frank the Tank”) of Barstool Sports went as far as to say that the “refs should be at the Chiefs’ parade” after the calls we’ve seen throughout the playoffs.
The refs should be in the Chiefs parade too
— Frank Fleming (@NjTank99) January 27, 2025
Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, also chimed in.
“I’m quitting watching football. There’s no other way to teach (Roger Goodell) a lesson. This is blatant cheating. #nflrigged,” he posted.
I’m quitting watching football. There is no other way to teach @nflcommish a lesson. This is blatant cheating. #nflrigged pic.twitter.com/fGzya6LOQX
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 27, 2025
Portnoy was reacting to another poor call later in the game that cost the Bills a critical first down. This ended up leading to the Chiefs’ go-ahead touchdown.
Fortunately, it appears that the NFL has plans to implement a new rule that could help silence some of the backlash against pro-Chiefs calls.
NFL Considering Rule Change Following Backlash Over Calls Favoring Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs led to a ton of backlash, as multiple controversial calls were made across several games. While this isn’t a new occurrence, as refs can’t be perfect, it was noticeably bad.
Furthermore, these calls seemed to favor the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, in particular, during their victory over the Texans. This game was bad enough that it even prompted Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and several Houston players to bash the one-sided officiating.
While it is a bit of a stretch to accuse the refs of cheating, many fans were frustrated with the officiating in these games. In response, ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter announced prior to the Chiefs’ matchup with the Bills that NFL replay assist could expand next season to include things such as the quarterback slide.
For all those complaining that Patrick Mahomes gets too many calls, relief soon could be on the way.
NFL replay assist is expected to expand this offseason into plays that could include the quarterback slide, league sources told ESPN.https://t.co/4w3haqOW7i
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2025
This is great news for fans who believe the refs have missed their mark this season, particularly with the Chiefs on this controversial play.
One of the more polarizing calls in the Divisional Round was a late slide by Mahomes that turned into an unnecessary roughness penalty. Though the defenders went for the hit, they ended up only hitting each other and had little to no contact with Mahomes.
It is great to hear that the league is listening to the fans rather than ignoring the criticism. They’ve been facing a lot of backlash, and it seems it could actually be helping.
It remains to be seen if the proposed rule change will actually pass and have a significant impact, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.