Patrick Mahomes on perception of Chiefs’ preferential officiating treatment: Players decide games, not calls

The Houston Texans were the latest team to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason to not only lose, but also commit more penalties.

Houston was penalized eight times for 82 yards in its 23-14 loss in the AFC divisional round, while Kansas City was penalized just four times for 29 yards. A penalty on Texans Pro Bowl edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. extended the Chiefs’ drive on their second possession, which resulted in three points for Kansas City. 

“We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game,” Anderson said afterward.

The data does actually back up Anderson’s claim, but it’s worth noting that a team that has won three Super Bowl titles since 2019, including the last two, would probably end up being pretty disciplined in their play. It’s kind of a chicken vs. the egg type of conservation. According to CBS Sports Research, the Chiefs’ last 11 playoff games have resulted in them not committing more penalties than their opponents, which is the longest streak by any NFL team in the last 30 years. The only teams with longer such streaks were the 1970-82 Dolphins (18), who appeared in four Super Bowls and won two in that stretch and the 1984-91 Broncos (12), who appeared in three Super Bowls and didn’t win any during that time.

Here’s an even more damning statistic for Chiefs detractors, courtesy of CBS Sports Research: Since the 2021 postseason, the Chiefs have more penalties than their opponent zero times in 11 playoff games (0%). In the regular season in that stretch of seasons, they have more penalties than their opponents in 25 of 68 games (37%). That’s a funky contrast in the postseason even in a smaller sample size of games.

Here are three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes‘ thoughts on the narrative and the aforementioned numbers. 

“I’ve kind of learned that no matter what happens during the game, that something’s going to come out about it if you win and you continue to win, so I don’t really pay attention to it,” Mahomes told 96.5 The Fan Tuesday, via the Kansas City Star. “I mean, obviously I’ve been on both sides of it as far as how I felt the calls were made, but at the end of the day, man, those guys [NFL officials] are doing their best to make the best calls and keep it to where the players are making the plays in the game. And that’s what decides the outcome. And obviously there was a call here or there that people didn’t agree with, but at the same time, I think there was a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game.”

Mahomes is indirectly quoting  Travis Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift by somewhat saying “The haters are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I shake it off, I shake it off.”