Chiefs officiating: A look at the key controversies surrounding Kansas City this season

The story of Super Bowl LIX isn’t the Kansas City Chiefs’ quest for a third straight title or even the Philadelphia Eagles’ great run to an NFC championship.

It’s the officials.

NFL fans are making it a priority during Chiefs games to take to social media to post their complaints, videos and memes about their perception that officials favor Kansas City. It has been brewing all season and boiled over in the playoffs. Here are a look at the main Chiefs officiating controversies from the season:

Week 1: Isaiah Likely is out of bounds

This call wasn’t really controversial, because nobody could honestly say they thought Likely wasn’t (barely) on the back line when he seemed to catch a touchdown on the final play of the season opener. But it was a sign of things to come, with the Chiefs winning every close game they played all season.

That play was legit, though there was some controversy earlier in the game when officials seemingly let defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo call a timeout, which isn’t legal.

Week 2: 4th down pass interference on Bengals

It was another close call, but this was more subjective. The Chiefs had fourth-and-16 trailing 25-23 late in the game, and on their last chance Patrick Mahomes threw deep. Bengals rookie safety Daijahn Anthony was called for pass interference. Kansas City kicked a field goal to win the game after that.

It did seem Anthony arrived early, but to many it was another controversial call that went the Chiefs’ way.

“I feel like he did a great job, honestly,” Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt said, via ESPN. “Maybe a little early if anything, but I feel like I would’ve did the same thing — went to go get the ball.”

Week 3: Missed pass interference on Kyle Pitts

The Chiefs got away with one late in a win at the Atlanta Falcons. Safety Bryan Cook pretty clearly committed a pass inference penalty on Pitts in the end zone, and the officials simply missed it.

“That is a real-time call that officials have to make a judgment on,” referee Tra Blake told a pool reporter after the game. “From the angle that they had at the time, they did not feel that there was a foul committed.”

That missed call happened on “Sunday Night Football,” so there were a lot of people watching that missed call.

Week 9: Missed false start on a Chiefs TD

Chiefs tackle Jawaan Taylor was the most penalized player in the NFL in 2023 and tied for second in 2024. Fans complain that he holds, false starts or lines up too far back and not on the line more often than not. Referees won’t call him for a foul every play, and people were watching when Taylor got away with what looked like a false start in overtime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead of moving back five yards, Travis Kelce made it down to the 2-yard line. The Chiefs scored the game-winning touchdown on the next play.

ESPN called out the missed call on the Monday night broadcast, so plenty of people took notice.

Week 16: Phantom pass interference on the Texans

During a Saturday game on national TV, the Texans were driving when Tank Dell was called for an offensive pass interference penalty that was hard to find on replay. That set the Texans’ drive late in the first half back, and it would end with an interception.

That wasn’t a game-turning call, and it’s not uncommon to see bad pass interference calls like that multiple times on a Sunday. But with fans’ frustration mounting over the Chiefs’ winning streak, every missed call pointed out on a broadcast turned into a bigger deal than it was.

BONUS: 2 big playoff controversies

Let’s take a step back for a moment. Where did the complaints about officiating favoring the Chiefs start? Two calls — both of which seemed like legitimate calls even though they did help the Chiefs — pushed Kansas City along during its dynasty.

In one, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai pushed Mahomes as he stepped out of bounds in the final seconds of the 2023 AFC championship game, which gave Kansas City 15 yards to set up a game-winning field goal. It was a big penalty but a call you see made all the time when a quarterback is out of bounds.

“I’ve got to know not to get close to that quarterback when he gets close to that sideline,” Ossai said after the game.

Two weeks later, there was another flashpoint incident. You knew anger over the Chiefs continuing to beat everyone was boiling over when a penalty that the opposing player himself admitted was a penalty became a controversy.

Eagles cornerback James Bradberry grabbed Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on a third down inside of the two-minute warning of the Super Bowl two years ago. The penalty was huge, practically running out the rest of the clock before a game-winning field goal.

While everyone complained about the call, Bradberry himself admitted he held.

“It was a holding,” Bradyberry told reporters, per the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin. “I tugged on the jersey. … They called it. I was hoping they would let it ride.”

That’s probably when the Chiefs/officiating madness really started, when a player admitted to committing a penalty and all the Chiefs haters insisted he was wrong.

Divisional round: Bad roughing calls on Houston

Officials protect quarterbacks to keep them healthy. That’s the NFL’s mandate. Sometimes there are baffling calls after minimal contact with quarterbacks. That’s nothing new. But with everyone impatiently waiting for a reason to complain about the Chiefs and officials, two soft calls on the Texans in this year’s divisional round for barely hitting Mahomes triggered a reaction.

On the first, Will Anderson Jr. hit Mahomes up high, but the replay showed that there wasn’t much contact. It was still a 15-yard penalty.

Everyone was on edge by the time the Texans got another roughing call. Mahomes had a late slide, and replay showed that two Texans defenders actually made way more contact with each other than they did with Mahomes. There was still a penalty called.

Troy Aikman audibly groaned about the call on the broadcast, and the Texans didn’t hide their frustration over the calls after the game.

“We knew it was going to be us against the refs going into this game,” Anderson said, via Will Kunkel of the Houston Fox affiliate.

Anderson was fined $25,000 for that comment.

AFC championship

By the AFC championship game, Chiefs haters were waiting impatiently to complain the first time a call went Kansas City’s way. Then a couple of them did.

Xavier Worthy had a contested catch downfield, and there were two components that were in question: Did Worthy control the ball after wrestling it away, and did it hit the ground? Officials called it a catch and fans (predictably) lost their minds.

Later there was a call that was very close, and if it went the Chiefs’ way it was going to set off a controversy that would last for a long time. Josh Allen had a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches that was stopped right away. Did Allen make it? Officials spotted it short. It’s rare to see the spot of a ball changed on a replay challenge and that one wasn’t either; the Chiefs took over on downs.

There will very likely be a 50/50 call that goes the Chiefs’ way during Super Bowl LIX. And when it happens, you’re going to hear all about it.