“Goodell will not let Patrick Mahomes lose” – Social Media OUTRAGES over perceived NFL bias towards the Chiefs in Championship and Super Bowl Games
Fans have had it with the NFL giving preferential treatment to the Chiefs in championship games.
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L-James Bradberry penalty in the Super Bowl, R- Joseph Ossai's roughing the passer call in the AFC Championship (Image via Twitter)
The Kansas City Chiefs have won Super Bowl LVII but some fans (everyone except the Chiefs fans to be honest) are of the opinion that the Chiefs had the refs helping them win the game when they were down.
When the game was tied 35-35 and there were less than 2 minutes left in regulation, the Chiefs were on third down at the Eagles’ 15-yard line. At this moment, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a pass over wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster‘s head and the pass was incomplete.
However, the refs threw a flag in the play and Philadelphia’s cornerback James Bradberry was given a holding penalty, which automatically resulted in a KC first down. And all the while, the game clock was running and time fell like sand from the hands. The Eagles were handed the ball with six seconds left in the game, and they were unable to make a comeback.
Many felt that the holding penalty was totally unnecessary because Smith-Schuster wasn’t even within the reach of that ball and Bradberry’s hold was barely the minimum to be penalized. On any other day, this hold wouldn’t be flagged because football is a contact sport and there is bound to be some little contact among players. Fans immediately started a campaign on social media and called out the NFL for giving preferential treatment to the Chiefs.
The Chiefs win Super Bowl LVII with the help of the refs as dubbed by the fans
The holding penalty called on James Bradberry irked a lot of fans and mostly everyone said that the league favors Patrick Mahomes, just like it did Tom Brady in the past. Even NBA icon LeBron James, who was present at State Farm Stadium, called out the league for its bad officiating. King James tweeted: “His hand on his back had no effect on his route! This game was too damn good for that call to dictate the outcome at the end. Damn! By the way, I have no horse in the race. Just my professional opinion.”
Furthermore, this is not the first time that the refs’ bad officiating has directly benefitted the Chiefs. During the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the official made a similar play that helped KC win the game. Just like the Super Bowl, the score was tied 20-20 in the conference championship game. The Chiefs were third-and-four on Cincinnati’s 47-yard with 14 seconds left on the clock and Kansas City was still not in the field goal range.
Mahomes couldn’t find any of his receivers open and he ran to get the yardage but couldn’t and he ran out of bounds. While he was running, Bengals’ Joseph Ossai shoved him slightly and Mahomes made a big deal out of it by lying on the field for an extended duration of time. The refs immediately threw their flags on the ground and Ossai was given an unnecessary roughing of the passer penalty which put the Chiefs in field goal range and yes, you guessed it, Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning field goal.
Here’s how the fans reacted when Bradberry was penalized, which automatically resulted in the Chiefs being crowned the Super Bowl champions.
If both cases were kept in front of a person who had zero knowledge of football, then they would also point out that this was obviously scripted and the Chiefs were favored. But no one can say that with 100 percent certainty, because maybe KCC is really just that lucky. Just like Ian Fleming wrote in Goldfinger, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
The refs “helping” the Chiefs has happened in back-to-back games and many are already suggesting foul play. No matter how much debate is done on this controversial topic, in the end, the Chiefs won the Super Bowl and the Eagles had to lose because of bad officiating. The league really needs to look into this matter because already many fans have started boycotting watching the NFL because of this specific reason.
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