Patrick Mahomes, Says He Will Never Play With Chiefs If Andy Reid Coach Talented Star Join Rival Team Over Chiefs….

This NFL season was exceptional for both officiating controversy as well as the speculation surrounding the Chiefs and the idea that the NFL — in a frenzied effort to increase ratings — wanted to showcase the triumvirate of MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, premier tight end Travis Kelce and, of course, Taylor Swift, whose romance with Kelce and sightings at games became its own sideshow.

No matter the theory, part of the suspicion rested with the officiating and a perceived favoritism to all things Kansas City.

However, an ESPN analysis of penalty data showed that while the Chiefs did see some of their lowest percentages of overall game penalties in the playoffs this season, they did not benefit from fewer penalties than their opponents in the regular season.

Most of the time — 12 out of 17 games in the regular season — the officials threw more flags against the Chiefs than their opponents, according to ESPN’s analysis, which included those that were declined or offset. The plays on which fans decry a missed call — which can be subjective — aren’t captured in the numbers provided to ESPN.

The Chiefs were the sixth most penalized team in the NFL during the regular season, tied with the Tennessee Titans, at 126 penalties, or about 7.4 per game. That’s higher than the overall regular season average of 6.8.

Another way to look at it: Officials called 95 penalties against Chiefs opponents. Only the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears saw fewer collective penalties against their opponents in the regular season. About 96% of penalties against Chiefs opponents happened before the final two minutes of a game.

The Chiefs won four of five games where they had fewer penalties and won seven of 12 games in which they had more. (And Kansas City had fewer penalties in five of the nine regular-season games Swift attended.)

The numbers did change during the playoffs. However, the sample size is too small to be conclusive, and it’s important to note that penalties per game trended downward during playoff games across the league, according to ESPN’s analysis.

In all three postseason games, the Chiefs received fewer flags than their opponents, seeing their lowest percentage all season during the AFC Championship Game, when they had three penalties and the Baltimore Ravens had eight.

The percentage of penalties against the Chiefs has not always tracked with their postseason success. Over 17 playoff games in the past six seasons, during which time the Chiefs have played in every AFC Championship Game, they have lost three times. They had fewer penalties in two of those losses and more in one: 13 penalties to Tampa Bay’s four, in Super Bowl LV to cap off the 2020 season. They’ve won 10 times when they’ve had fewer penalties and four times when they had equal or more than their opponent.

To fans of the other 31 teams, Mahomes is often seen as the NFL’s darling, the beneficiary of “Michael Jordan rules,” or protection calls that his counterparts don’t receive. But the 2023 data show only one roughing the passer call against an opponent among the 16 regular-season games he played. That happened Nov. 21, with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, when Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox drew the penalty during a Mahomes pass to Kelce.

In the playoffs, Mahomes drew four total roughing the passer calls: two against the Miami Dolphins and two against Baltimore. Of those, a late call against Miami’s Christian Wilkins in the fourth quarter probably generated the most debate. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel took his hat off — in subzero temperatures — after Wilkins pushed Mahomes, who fell to the ground. Fans groused that the refs missed a Chiefs holding penalty on the same play. After the game, Wilkins said, “I thought I was just doing my job. I thought I was good, but I guess not. It’s a judgment call, but it is what it is.”

When asked about the difference between the Chiefs’ penalties from the regular season to the playoffs, a league official noted that the sample size is 12 games vs. 272 in the regular season.

Dean Blandino, the former NFL vice president of officiating from 2013 to 2017 who is now a regular Fox Sports analyst on penalty calls, said it wouldn’t make sense to wait for the playoffs to enact some purposeful scheme.

“If they want [the Chiefs] in the postseason,” Blandino said, “then you’re taking a chance in the regular season because they might not make it.”

During a Super Bowl briefing Monday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell praised the league’s officials. “I think in the NFL the level of scrutiny is at the highest I’ve ever seen it and that’s part of our popularity,” he said.

Goodell laughed when asked about Swift and the allegations that the league is scripted. “I don’t think I’m that good a scripter, or anybody on our staff,” he said. “There is no way I could have scripted that one.”

Blandino said it’s not just numbers that should debunk perceptions of officiating bias.

“You’ve got so many different moving parts, you have different officials, you have different crews. …” he said. “The coordinating that would have to take place for some of these conspiracy theories, it would be beyond the scope of what the officiating department is capable of.”

Still, even people he’s close to believe the NFL is scripted. He has a brother who he said is “the No. 1 conspiracy theorist,” who texted him repeatedly during the AFC Championship Game to provide instances in which he believed the game was rigged to get the Chiefs into the Super Bowl.