Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have recently been in the heart of a controversy, with both supporters and critics claiming the superstar quarterback receives biases from the NFL officials. The league is finally addressing these claims head-on, with a formal answer that has everyone talking. After months of intense debate, particularly following some eyebrow-raising rulings during the 2024 playoffs, the NFL has broken its silence.
The talk reached a fever pitch following the Chiefs' Divisional Round victory against the Houston Texans on January 18, 2025. Two penalties, a roughing the passer call on Will Anderson Jr. and an unnecessary roughness flag following a Mahomes slide gifted Kansas City 10 vital points.
Social media erupted, with fans crying "rigged!" and Texans RB Joe Mixon venting, "Everybody knows how it is... you can never leave it in the refs' hands." Even ESPN's Troy Aikman called out a call live, saying, "He's trying to draw the penalty." The NFL had to respond, and they did - sort of.
NFL Network's Mike Garafolo dropped the league's findings on February 26, revealing a study on fouls drawn per 100 hits in 2024. Guess what? Mahomes ranked No. 8 at 3.53, behind Tua Tagovailoa's chart-topping 7.32. "The league reviewed the number of fouls drawn by QBs to see if there's preferential treatment from officials and found there's no pattern," Garafolo tweeted.
While the NFL has come out with a definite answer, it would take more than just a finding to convince the fans that Patrick Mahomes did not get any special treatment from the officials.