Patrick Mahomes Under Fire After Fans Point Out Interaction with NFL Ref as Controversial Missed Calls Continue
Conspiracy theories tend to emerge when powerless people who crave basic fairness instead perceive coordinated injustice.
To put it mildly, there is a lot of perceived injustice going around these days, even in places where the stakes, relatively speaking, are pretty low.
For instance, shortly before the Kansas City Chiefs’ controversial 22-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday evening — a victory marred by an obvious missed call on a crucial pass interference that worked in Kansas City’s favor — fans on the social media platform X thought they smelt a rat when they saw Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes conversing with an official as Kansas City prepared to take the field.
Hours later, events seemed to confirm those fans’ suspicions.
First, let us address the in-game controversy.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Falcons facing third-and-5 from the Kansas City six-yard-line and trailing 22-17, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo sent six defenders on a blitz to pressure Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Cousins, however, beat the blitz with a good throw to tight end Kyle Pitts in the end zone. The play would have resulted in a go-ahead touchdown for the Falcons had Chiefs safety Bryan Cook not committed an obvious pass interference foul well before the ball arrived.
“That was a lot of contact, wasn’t it?” analyst Cris Collinsworth said on the NBC broadcast.
“Head’s not around,” Collinsworth later added, referring to the fact that Cook never turned around to look for the football, a classic hallmark of textbook pass interference.
Refs let the Chiefs get away with a lot of contact on this pass to Pitts. Falcons end up turning it over on downs. #KCvsATL pic.twitter.com/rSFnM2tIb8
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) September 23, 2024
As a general rule, if defenders make a play on the ball, officials tend to allow some incidental contact. Of course, they cannot play the ball if they do not even turn their heads to look at it. Thus, Cook’s contact with Pitts should have resulted in a rather obvious penalty.
Now, contrast that play with another play that worked in Kansas City’s favor only a week earlier.
On Sept. 15, with 38 seconds remaining in the game and the Chiefs trailing the Cincinnati Bengals by two points, 25-23, Mahomes threw an incomplete pass to wide receiver Rashee Rice on fourth-and-16.
Officials, however, called a pass interference penalty on Cincinnati safety Daijahn Anthony. Their hopes renewed, the Chiefs rallied for a 26-25 win.
Here was the penalty on Anthony:
THE CHIEFS GET A HUGE DEFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE CALL.
Thoughts on the contact? pic.twitter.com/IebUOrjDkv
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) September 15, 2024
Did Anthony arrive too early and make contact with Rice? Yes. But did the Bengals safety play the ball? Clearly, he did.
Thus, fans had good reason to complain about the no-call on Cook, who made premature contact against Pitts without the mitigating virtue of at least looking at the football.
Meanwhile, social media users had already riled themselves up over Mahomes’s pregame conversation with the official.
In fact, one X user posted a photo of that interaction at 8:27 p.m. EST. That was several hours before the Cook-Pitts controversy.
In other words, fans anticipated that shenanigans from officials would work in Kansas City’s favor.
TRENDING: #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes having a nice discussion with the ref before going onto the field
👀
(h/t @MkeMetroWx) pic.twitter.com/jfSvgdGkZF
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 23, 2024
“Of course he is just making sure the Chiefs stick to the script lol,” one user wrote.
Of course he is just making sure the Chiefs stick to the script lol
— Jonathan Watson (@JonnyGamr) September 23, 2024
“Ready to cheat like always,” another user wrote.
Ready to cheat like always
— The Dog Pound (@cryptomemehoe) September 23, 2024
“Probably slipping him some Taylor Swift concert tickets lol,” a third user wrote.
Probably slipping him some Taylor Swift concert tickets lol
— George wise (@CGeorgewise78) September 23, 2024
Indeed, the attention surrounding pop music megastar Taylor Swift’s much-publicized romantic relationship with Kansas City tight end and Pfizer spokesman Travis Kelce has done little to quell suspicions that powerful people, including NFL executives, want the Chiefs to play in high-profile games and eventually advance to the Super Bowl, which they have won three times in the last five years, including two consecutive in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Peddlers of that Swift-related theory, however, would have to explain Kansas City’s prolonged success.
After all, the pop megastar did not begin appearing at Chiefs games until the 2023 season.
Mahomes, on the other hand, became a full-time starter in 2018. Since then, he has amassed eye-popping statistics, made the Pro Bowl six times, won league MVP twice and Super Bowl MVP three times. He has never failed to lead his team at least as far as the AFC Championship Game.
Surely Swift and the officials cannot account for all that success, right?
Thus, we have a bit of a conundrum.
On one hand, fans’ conspiracy theories about Mahomes and the officials reek of envy. The Chiefs always seem to win, and many fans undoubtedly resent that about them. Jealousy, of course, is not a new phenomenon, but it is also not a good look.
On the other hand, fans crave fairness like everyone else. When they see something that they perceive as rigged — and a conspiracy of interest among powerful and dishonest people qualifies as rigging — they react with righteous indignation.
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