Stay in Touch
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
Sign in
01-22-2025 05:46 PM
Ahead of the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, a popular hashtag has resurfaced on social media: “#NFLRigged.”
In recent years, the Chiefs have typically become the primary subject of this conspiracy theory — which involves the NFL using their referees to rig games in favor of the most popular teams that make the league the most money, like Kansas City.
This week — after the Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round and both players and broadcasters openly questioned the officiating — the outside noise has gotten so loud that a KC reporter actually asked quarterback Patrick Mahomes if he feels he’s received “protection” and unfair penalty flags from referees.
“I don’t feel that way,” Mahomes responded on January 22. “I just try to play football at the end of the day.”
“The referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and as proper as they possibly can,” the Chiefs QB continued. “And all you can do is play the game that you love as hard as you can and live with the results.”
“And so, for me it’s to go out there, play hard, try to do whatever I can to win the football game, and then live with the results based off my effort and the way that we played the game,” he concluded. “So, I think that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.”
After a follow-up question on if Mahomes has noticed any officiating changes as he’s risen into a veteran role, the two-time NFL MVP replied that he has not “felt any different.”
“You get new referees every year, you get new circumstances, and you never can really tell because every play is different,” Mahomes explained. “That’s what makes the NFL so special.”
NFL Host & Known Chiefs Fan Nick Wright Sounds off on ‘Exhausting’ Narrative About Referees Rigging Games
FOX Sports One host and diehard Chiefs supporter Nick Wright also took to X on January 22 to address the latest theories about the NFL rigging games for KC.
“It’s just exhausting,” Wright began what turned into an epic rant.
“@JoshDubowAP has outlined every imaginable scenario to show the Chiefs are league average (or worse!) over Mahomes career AND just the last 3 years in any penalty margin/ref category,” the host went on. “Folks don’t care. We ALL saw the refs blow a HUGE DPI/OPI [defensive and offensive pass interference] call in BUF/BAL that basically put 7 points on the board for [the Bills], we just move on because [expletive] happens & refereeing is hard. Folks don’t care.”
“But because the refs got ONE call wrong in KC-HOU (the first call, despite [Troy] Aikman’s protests, was correct AND was reviewed by New York & upheld), it’s 4 days of hysteria,” Wright questioned. “Ignoring that if the call hadn’t happened, KC would’ve had the devastating situation of… 2nd & 6 AND ignoring that Houston SCORED ONE TOUCHDOWN & PLAYED TERRIBLY!”
Needless to say, Wright and many other Chiefs fans have heard enough of this conspiracy theory.
Chiefs Face Lose-Lose Scenario vs. the Bills When It Comes to ‘#NFLRigged’ Debate
Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose situation for the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. If Mahomes and Kansas City pull off the victory over Josh Allen and the Bills, opposing fans will surely complain that the NFL is rigged — with KC returning to the Super Bowl once again.
If they lose, perhaps fans let up a bit, but then the Chiefs fail to make NFL history as their three-peat bid would be extinguished.
With that in mind, when it comes to this debate, there is no winning for Kansas City.
In every game, there’s always going to be a holding penalty or a pass interference that the referees could have flagged but didn’t, or did flag when they could have let teams play on. It’s just the nature of the sport, and these razor-thin decisions occur in just about every pro football outing — especially the competitive ones between two talented teams.
At the end of the day, the Chiefs can’t focus on all of this “#NFLRigged” noise. All that matters now is making it back to another Super Bowl, no matter what social media has to say about it after the fact. Nothing else is important.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Obermuller covers the NFL and NHL for Heavy.com, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins, as well as the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. An NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate, his previous bylines include FanDuel's The Duel, King Fantasy Sports and Pro Football Mania.
01-22-2025 06:12 PM
Problem is people watch alot of different teams and see that the Chiefs are getting calls and non calls that other teams aren't. There is just to much video evidence to dispute. People's eyes are not lying and the excuses given are whitewashing.
Just like the Musk incident... don't tell people what they didn't see.
01-23-2025 07:56 PM
@monicakm wrote:Ahead of the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, a popular hashtag has resurfaced on social media: “#NFLRigged.”
In recent years, the Chiefs have typically become the primary subject of this conspiracy theory — which involves the NFL using their referees to rig games in favor of the most popular teams that make the league the most money, like Kansas City.
This week — after the Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round and both players and broadcasters openly questioned the officiating — the outside noise has gotten so loud that a KC reporter actually asked quarterback Patrick Mahomes if he feels he’s received “protection” and unfair penalty flags from referees.
“I don’t feel that way,” Mahomes responded on January 22. “I just try to play football at the end of the day.”
“The referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and as proper as they possibly can,” the Chiefs QB continued. “And all you can do is play the game that you love as hard as you can and live with the results.”
“And so, for me it’s to go out there, play hard, try to do whatever I can to win the football game, and then live with the results based off my effort and the way that we played the game,” he concluded. “So, I think that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.”
After a follow-up question on if Mahomes has noticed any officiating changes as he’s risen into a veteran role, the two-time NFL MVP replied that he has not “felt any different.”
“You get new referees every year, you get new circumstances, and you never can really tell because every play is different,” Mahomes explained. “That’s what makes the NFL so special.”
NFL Host & Known Chiefs Fan Nick Wright Sounds off on ‘Exhausting’ Narrative About Referees Rigging Games
FOX Sports One host and diehard Chiefs supporter Nick Wright also took to X on January 22 to address the latest theories about the NFL rigging games for KC.“It’s just exhausting,” Wright began what turned into an epic rant.
“@JoshDubowAP has outlined every imaginable scenario to show the Chiefs are league average (or worse!) over Mahomes career AND just the last 3 years in any penalty margin/ref category,” the host went on. “Folks don’t care. We ALL saw the refs blow a HUGE DPI/OPI [defensive and offensive pass interference] call in BUF/BAL that basically put 7 points on the board for [the Bills], we just move on because [expletive] happens & refereeing is hard. Folks don’t care.”
“But because the refs got ONE call wrong in KC-HOU (the first call, despite [Troy] Aikman’s protests, was correct AND was reviewed by New York & upheld), it’s 4 days of hysteria,” Wright questioned. “Ignoring that if the call hadn’t happened, KC would’ve had the devastating situation of… 2nd & 6 AND ignoring that Houston SCORED ONE TOUCHDOWN & PLAYED TERRIBLY!”
Needless to say, Wright and many other Chiefs fans have heard enough of this conspiracy theory.
Chiefs Face Lose-Lose Scenario vs. the Bills When It Comes to ‘#NFLRigged’ Debate
Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose situation for the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. If Mahomes and Kansas City pull off the victory over Josh Allen and the Bills, opposing fans will surely complain that the NFL is rigged — with KC returning to the Super Bowl once again.If they lose, perhaps fans let up a bit, but then the Chiefs fail to make NFL history as their three-peat bid would be extinguished.
With that in mind, when it comes to this debate, there is no winning for Kansas City.
In every game, there’s always going to be a holding penalty or a pass interference that the referees could have flagged but didn’t, or did flag when they could have let teams play on. It’s just the nature of the sport, and these razor-thin decisions occur in just about every pro football outing — especially the competitive ones between two talented teams.
At the end of the day, the Chiefs can’t focus on all of this “#NFLRigged” noise. All that matters now is making it back to another Super Bowl, no matter what social media has to say about it after the fact. Nothing else is important.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Obermuller covers the NFL and NHL for Heavy.com, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins, as well as the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. An NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate, his previous bylines include FanDuel's The Duel, King Fantasy Sports and Pro Football Mania.
Oh come on, one's a player (and beneficiary of the faulty calls...) one's a fan, what would you expect them to say...
01-23-2025 07:58 PM - edited 01-23-2025 08:13 PM
@hopi wrote:Problem is people watch alot of different teams and see that the Chiefs are getting calls and non calls that other teams aren't. There is just to much video evidence to dispute. People's eyes are not lying and the excuses given are whitewashing.
Just like the Musk incident... don't tell people what they didn't see.
Agree with your comment about football. As for Musk, while the remark has no place here, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone they didn't see what they wanted to see. Unfortunately, many didn't hear the accompanying audio of him saying 'my heart goes out to you', as his hand went from his heart out to the audience... Wonder why so many alleged news people left that out... Go figure...
01-24-2025 05:08 PM
@stevieb wrote:
@hopi wrote:Problem is people watch alot of different teams and see that the Chiefs are getting calls and non calls that other teams aren't. There is just to much video evidence to dispute. People's eyes are not lying and the excuses given are whitewashing.
Just like the Musk incident... don't tell people what they didn't see.
Agree with your comment about football. As for Musk, while the remark has no place here, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone they didn't see what they wanted to see. Unfortunately, many didn't hear the accompanying audio of him saying 'my heart goes out to you', as his hand went from his heart out to the audience... Wonder why so many alleged news people left that out... Go figure...
Your excessive posts to control my freedom to post is as frightening as you whitewashing what happened. It is not alleged, it's on video. You can see a comparison video of him telling a group that his heart goes out to them.
It is totally different than his salute. He knows the difference
Go figure why you are so complicit and always making excuses for evil.
01-24-2025 05:23 PM - edited 01-24-2025 05:54 PM
@hopi wrote:
@stevieb wrote:
@hopi wrote:Problem is people watch alot of different teams and see that the Chiefs are getting calls and non calls that other teams aren't. There is just to much video evidence to dispute. People's eyes are not lying and the excuses given are whitewashing.
Just like the Musk incident... don't tell people what they didn't see.
Agree with your comment about football. As for Musk, while the remark has no place here, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone they didn't see what they wanted to see. Unfortunately, many didn't hear the accompanying audio of him saying 'my heart goes out to you', as his hand went from his heart out to the audience... Wonder why so many alleged news people left that out... Go figure...
Your excessive posts to control my freedom to post is as frightening as you whitewashing what happened. It is not alleged, it's on video. You can see a comparison video of him telling a group that his heart goes out to them.
It is totally different than his salute. He knows the difference
Go figure why you are so complicit and always making excuses for evil.
Possibly because I'm not a zealot and I'm not viewing anything evil. I also have no desire to control your freedom to post. The nature of your posts speak for themselves. Incidentally, the only thing I posited as being 'alleged' are some of the 'news' pundits, who shaped their 'reporting' to fit an agenda. But then, questionable reading comprehension skills, all things considered, were no surprise.
01-24-2025 06:15 PM
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
*You're signing up to receive QVC promotional email.
Find recent orders, do a return or exchange, create a Wish List & more.
Privacy StatementGeneral Terms of Use
QVC is not responsible for the availability, content, security, policies, or practices of the above referenced third-party linked sites nor liable for statements, claims, opinions, or representations contained therein. QVC's Privacy Statement does not apply to these third-party web sites.
© 1995-2025 QVC, Inc. All rights reserved. | QVC, Q and the Q logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc. 888-345-5788