A Kansas City Chiefs game is a recipe for online discourse about the NFL officiating, seemingly every week. Thanks to their dominance over the last seven years, the Chiefs have become public enemy number one, with any call going in their favor taken as a slight or an opportunity to show that the game is rigged for them.
On Monday Night, as they faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars, that situation came to the limelight once again. After not scoring a touchdown in the first quarter all season long, Kansas City led a near pitch-perfect drive to get on the board. However, on the actual snap to get the touchdown, controversy erupted again, with a conversation with Patrick Mahomes seemingly changing the referee’s mind.
Did Patrick Mahomes Influence the Referee?
Going for it on a 3rd and goal from the 2-yard line, Mahomes dropped a pass right into Travis Kelce’s bread basket. As he drove into the end zone, a flag was out on the play immediately.
However, rather than the penalty being called, it seemed like the two-time MVP walked over to plead his case to the officials, who chose to pick up the flag. It left fans befuddled, with some immediately pointing to the league favoring the Chiefs.
It didn’t take long for the discourse to go viral on social media, with some parroting the same complaints: “Not surprised, everybody knows to beat Mahomes, you also have to beat the refs.”
Refs throw a flag, Mahomes wines to them and they pick it up 🤣
— Seminole Himmy (@SeminoleHim) October 7, 2025
Others had a rather comical way of explaining the events that went down, writing, “Mahomes screaming at the refs and they pick up the flag. NOTHING TO SEE HERE.”
Bruh Pat Mahomes told the refs you can’t call that and they picked up the flag. Never seen nothing like how the refs work for him
— Stringer Bell (@ThatCaliSigma) October 7, 2025
For some, though, the decision immediately induced rage, with one fan stating, “Mahomes just flat out got the refs to pick up a flag that should have stood for sure.”
Refs just blatantly listened to what Mahomes said and changed the call wtf
— commenter (@onlyknowsball) October 7, 2025
The fans who couldn’t digest it as a wrongfully thrown flag immediately took to throwing some expletive-laden words at the refs, “So funny the refs wrongly pickup the flag cause Mahomes is b***hing at them. Wrong call, bulls**t.”
Lol the refs just give Mahomes whatever he says
— Jackie Locks (@jack_bonfire) October 7, 2025
Some, though, couldn’t work over their disbelief of the situation, claiming, “Mahomes literally just told the referees what to do. I’ve never seen it happen that easily.”
As the game progressed, though, the situation only went from bad to worse, with a forced fumble on Trevor Lawrence at the goal line being a matter of inches from being recorded as a touchdown.
What about the catch, prior to that TD, you could see the ball bounce off of the ground from the rear view and also see the ball bounce up out of the receivers hands. The catch was reviewed and but notice it was not replayed on tv?