Love or hate the Kansas City Chiefs, one thing about the 2024 squad is undeniable: They benefited a ridiculous amount of times from terrible officiating.
Beating Patrick Mahomes and company is hard enough. But when the refs are always throwing flags to help the Chiefs, it makes beating them practically impossible. And it happened so much in 2024 that the “rigged” and “scripted” accusations completely skyrocketed.
With that, let’s dive into 10 awful calls by the NFL refs in 2024 that were blatantly rigged for the Chiefs.
Which of these calls that favored the Kansas City Chiefs irked you the most?
INT? Incomplete Pass? Chiefs Ball!
The Kansas City Chiefs were up 14-10 on the Buffalo Bills late in the second quarter of the AFC Championship Game, looking to extend their lead before halftime.
Facing a 3rd-and-5 situation, Patrick Mahomes threw a desperate deep pass down the field that appeared to have been intercepted by Bills safety Cole Bishop inside the Kansas City five-yard line.
However, the officials awarded the reception to Chiefs rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy, citing simultaneous possession. In the NFL, simultaneous possession always goes to the offense — like how tie goes to the runner in baseball.
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It looks like Bishop has clear possession of the football, and then Worthy just gets his hand in at the last second. Anybody else get flashbacks from the 2012 “Fail Mary” ending between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers?
AND then, as you can see, the ball clearly hits the ground as both men try holding onto the football. The officials reviewed the play and determined that it was indeed a 26-yard reception for Worthy. Even Tony Romo was baffled by the final ruling. That would set up a Mahomes rushing touchdown to extend the Chiefs lead to two possessions.
Josh Allen “Stopped” On Fourth Down (But He Really Wasn’t)
Something tells us that the moment that Worthy’s catch was upheld there, most Bills fans knew it wasn’t gonna be their day. Aside from having to beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead, now you had to accept that every game-changing call was going to go against you.
And yet, despite all of that, the Bills had Kansas City on the ropes early in the fourth quarter with the Super Bowl path right in front of them. Buffalo was clinging to a one-point lead and faced a 4th-and-inches situation at the Chiefs’ 41-yard line. Convert, and you really have the defending champs on thin ice.
Allen took the snap and tried to burst through the wall to get to the first-down marker. At first glance, it certainly looked like he just barely reached the first down marker. The officials discussed and actually ruled Allen short of the marker. They even reviewed it — with the benefit of multiple camera angles — and still concluded that Allen was short of the marker.
A standard eye test leaves you wondering how on earth he was ruled short. Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, and rules analyst Gene Steratore all expressed confusion about the ruling, believing that Allen clearly got the first down. At any rate, Mahomes would put the Kansas City Chiefs ahead with a 10-yard rushing touchdown on the ensuing drive, and Kansas City would never trail again as they squeaked out a 32-29 victory.
And if all of this wasn’t fishy enough to begin with? How about the fact that there was no referee pool report after this game, thus we couldn’t get the final explanation from the officials?
Sorry, Bills mafia. As if you haven’t been through enough already. You play a great game against the practically indestructible Kansas City Chiefs and still lose because of crappy calls like this.
Will Anderson Jr. Can’t Touch Patrick Mahomes
If it makes Buffalo fans feel better — and we doubt it does — they weren’t the only team completely hosed by the officials in a 2024 playoff game against the Chiefs. Eight days earlier, the Houston Texans experienced the same fate in the Divisional Round.
The Texans, like the Bills, were on the wrong end of every botched call by the officials in this one. It all started in the first quarter with the teams tied 3-3, and Kansas City looking to convert a third-and-long conversion.
Mahomes’ pass to Travis Kelce fell incomplete, with the Texans D seemingly getting a huge stop. However, Texans star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. was penalized for “roughing the passer” on Mahomes. Kansas City would tack on a field goal to take a 6-3 lead, which wasn’t half-bad for them, considering they should have been held to zero points on that drive.
And to think the officiating miscues in this game weren’t done…
Clean Hit On Patrick Mahomes = Unnecessary Roughness
The Kansas City Chiefs were leading the Texans 13-12 late in the third quarter of their Divisional Round clash, looking to extend the lead to eight. On first down from the KC 35-yard line, Mahomes scrambled and gave himself up after a short gain.
However, the officials flagged Texans linebacker Henry To’oTo’o for “unnecessary roughness” on the play — issuing a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down. ESPN analyst Troy Aikman was completely livid about the call, and rightfully so.
That 15-yard penalty would lead to Mahomes finding Travis Kelce for an 11-yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up by eight. That would basically be it for the Texans, who were unable to overcome the momentum loss and game-changing call.
There were not one, but two pathetic penalty calls against Houston involving clean contact on Patrick Mahomes for crying out loud. The Chiefs went on to win 23-14, reaching their seventh straight AFC Championship Game in the process.
Bear Hugging An Opponent In End Zone Is NOT Pass Interference
The Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Atlanta to take on Kirk Cousins and the Falcons in a can’t-miss “Sunday Night Football” Week 3 clash. Given the offensive firepower on both sides of the ball, you just knew that this would be an enticing game that would come down to the wire.
Pardon us for forgetting one of the other main rules about marquee Chiefs games: If it’s close in the fourth quarter, the officials are here to bail them out.
Kansas City was clinging to a 22-17 lead late in the fourth quarter, but Cousins pieced together a promising drive that moved Atlanta to the Chiefs’ six-yard line. On third-and-goal, Cousins spotted a mismatch in the end zone and threw the ball to tight end Kyle Pitts — who had five inches on Chiefs safety Bryan Cook.
Pitts wasn’t able to catch the football…simply because Cook bear-hugged him to force the incompletion. And if you need a spoiler alert…no, the refs did not throw a flag.
Instead of getting a first-and-goal at the one, the Falcons were stopped on fourth down. Atlanta got one last chance to win it, but their game-winning drive stalled on a 4th-and-inches stop by the Chiefs defense.
Blame Atlanta’s lack of execution if you want. We’d blame the officials for missing what may have been the most obvious pass interference call since the NOLA No-Call I’m just sayin’.
Hey Trent Williams! Only The Chiefs Can Sucker Punch!
You don’t have to take a second of American football referee training to know some of the most basic rules. For example, yes, a sucker punch to an opponent’s head should almost always result in a game ejection.
The Kansas City Chiefs visited the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7 at Levi’s Stadium, a highly-anticipated rematch of their thrilling Super Bowl 58 contest eight months earlier. But as always, the refs just had to get involved and play a role in this one.
Late in the fourth quarter, Chiefs safety Bryan Cook — yes, him again — delivered an unnecessary sucker punch to the head of 49ers’ All-Pro offensive tackle Trent Williams as he was getting up front the ground. Understandably, a provoked Williams retaliated by punching Cook right back.
Only Williams was ejected, and Cook was allowed to finish out the Chiefs’ 28-18 victory. Oddly, Williams got the bigger fine at $11,817, while Cook was only fined $8,442.64.
How exactly Williams got ejected when Cook was the instigator and committed the exact same offense is beyond us…
Saving The Day vs. The Bengals
Well, Joe Burrow vs. Patrick Mahomes Part 5 certainly didn’t disappoint…if you can discount the controversial ending that put a damper on a potential “Game of the Year” candidate.
As always, Burrow and the Bengals gave the Chiefs a run for their money in their Week 2 clash at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bengals led 26-25 with under three minutes remaining when they punted the ball back to KC.
The Kansas City Chiefs kind of looked done for when Wanya Morris committed a brutal illegal hands-to-the-face penalty that brought up a 4th-and-16 situation with 48 seconds to left. Mahomes scrambled and threw a deep pass to Rashee Rice that fell incomplete, seemingly securing the win for the visitors.
However, the sideline official curiously waited until the pass fell incomplete to throw a flag against Bengals safety Daijahn Anthony, who was called for pass interference.
The officials discussed the flag. Of course, it held up despite the ball looking completely uncatchable.
So of course the Chiefs took advantage of the questionable call, with Harrison Butker booting the game-winning 51-yard field goal. To make matters worse for the Bengals, they wound up missing out on the postseason by one game.
Or, you know, if the refs didn’t throw this flag and keep the Chiefs alive, the Bengals would have made the postseason. Just saying!
Brandon Jones’ “Illegal Contact” Penalty
Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos visited the defending Super Bowl champions at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 10, looking for their first road win against Kansas City since 2015. And boy, did Sean Payton’s crew come out firing in this one.
A pair of second-quarter touchdowns silenced Arrowhead and had the Broncos leading 14-3 late in the third quarter. With a near-perfect performance on defense in the first half, it certainly looked like KC was about to suffer their first loss of the season.
Facing a pivotal 3rd-and-9 situation in Denver territory, Mahomes was sacked by Nik Bonitto to take the Chiefs out of field goal range. However, the officials threw a phantom flag on Broncos safety Brandon Jones, giving KC a fresh set of downs.
Jones is No. 22 and the one going up against Travis Kelce. So, instead of Kansas City having to punt, they got a fresh set of downs on that call. Mahomes found Kelce for the end zone to cut the lead to four. The Kansas City Chiefs wound up winning 16-14 thanks to a blocked game-winning field goal attempt by Wil Lutz’ on the final play.
If the officials use their brains and don’t throw a flag there, the Broncos probably win. But you do you, refs.
Phantom Facemask On Tristan Wirfs Jr.
Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to Kansas City to visit the Chiefs on ‘Monday Night Football’ in Week 9 — or what we like to call a Super Bowl 55 rematch, just without Tom Brady.
Not many gave the Bucs a chance in this one. They didn’t have their top two wideouts, Mike Evans or Chris Godwin, in this game. Plus, yanno, it always feels like you’re facing the Chiefs and the refs these days when you come to Arrowhead.
But Mayfield and the Tampa defense played a remarkable first three quarters and had the visitors closing in on an upset. Leading 14-10 midway in the third quarter, Bucky Irving picked up eight yards to set up a 2nd-and-2 situation at the Kansas City 20.
But hold it! The refs penalized Bucs All-Pro offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs Jr. for a phantom facemask infraction. That head-scratching call instead brought up a 1st-and-25 situation. Instead of potentially going up two scores, the Bucs had to settle for a field goal and a seven-point lead. Tampa never led again, with the Chiefs going on to win 30-24 in overtime.
Mahomes Strip Sack = Roughing The Passer???
Well before the Texans were screwed by the refs in the Divisional Round against the Kansas City Chiefs, they were welcomed with a terrible-tasting appetizer four weeks earlier. Houston came to Arrowhead to visit Kansas City in Week 16, looking to build some momentum before the playoffs.
Houston was leading 10-7 midway through the second quarter when their defense seemingly came up with a game-changing play. Mahomes was apparently strip-sacked, and Henry To’oTo’o scooped up the ball for a fumble return TD to put Houston up two scores.
WAIT! Hold it! Flag on the play!
The referees nullified the strip-sack and called a “roughing the passer” penalty on Derek Barnett. And by roughing the passer, we assume they meant “for trying to play defense.
As usual, Kansas City took advantage and got the go-ahead touchdown on that drive. They went on to win 27-19, though the refs certainly deserve a hat tip for largely deciding the outcome of the game!
