Are the Chiefs really favored by the refs? The numbers -- and Fox officiating analyst Mike Pereira -- say otherwise.

Gabriela Carroll, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Feb 6, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW ORLEANS — “It’s never good when you all want to talk to us,” Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira joked Thursday before sitting down for the network’s media day at the Super Bowl.

The theory that NFL officials go out of their way to favor the Chiefs has steadily spread as Kansas City approaches its third consecutive Super Bowl. The team has dominated ever since Patrick Mahomes took the reins as starting quarterback, but a few controversial officiating decisions have come along the way.

“Everybody know how it is playing up [in Kansas City],” Texans running back Joe Mixon said. “You can never leave it into the refs’ hands. The whole world see, man.”

In Week 1, the Chiefs benefited when Baltimore’s Isaiah Likely caught a potential game-tying touchdown just out of the back of the end zone. In Week 2, trailing 25-23 on fourth-and-16, Mahomes threw a ball up toward Xavier Worthy, and Bengals defensive back Daijahn Anthony was called for pass interference, setting up the game-winning field goal.

In the AFC championship game, Worthy had a controversial catch stand even though the ball appeared to touch the ground on the play. The Chiefs also were the beneficiaries of a holding call on the Eagles' James Bradberry in Super Bowl LVII, which ultimately helped set up the game-winning field goal.

It seems as if the Chiefs get the benefit of the doubt in big moments, but the overall numbers tell a slightly different story. Since the start of the 2022 playoffs, Kansas City has a minus-120 penalty differential in the regular season and playoffs, earning 10 fewer first downs than its opponents, according to the Associated Press.

“I understand it, because the numbers kind of show it and the iffy calls have gone the Chiefs’ way,” Pereira said. “... While I understand it, it’s a myth. ... I’m sad that it’s a story. I think it puts more pressure on the officials on Sunday. They’re not going to officiate the game any differently, but they know they’re going into the game as part of the story. That doesn’t usually happen.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell slammed the criticism of the officials as “ridiculous” in his Super Bowl press conference. The NFL Referees Association, the union representing the officials, called the alleged favoritism “insulting” in a statement.

Pereira said officials are never told even to watch for certain players or teams who commit penalties frequently, to avoid the suggestion of bias. The game is so fast, Pereira said, that officials don’t have time to think about whether to call a penalty, they need to act quickly. But in the new age of social media, fans can slow down every video and look at plays frame-by-frame, which doesn’t reflect what officials have to look at when making calls.

“You know what you do when you’ve got a screenshot?” Pereira said, before miming ripping it in half. “Even if it’s a coach, that tells you nothing. You could go back to the tuck play. The Raiders used to send me screenshots, ‘Oh, well, he stopped. His throwing motion stopped.’ Well, on a screenshot, yeah, it does stop, right? There’s no motion. It’s frustrating.”