Kansas City Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes exploded in anger at the officials Sunday afternoon after an offsides call on Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney wiped out what would have likely been a game-winning touchdown.
After the Chiefs failed to convert a 4th & 15 and turned the ball over on downs to the Bills, who went on to win 20-17, Mahomes slammed his helmet to the ground and screamed at the officials. His display was so over the top that several teammates had to hold him back.
Frustration appears to be growing for Patrick Mahomes pic.twitter.com/0z48D67jKL
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 11, 2023
As was apparent to viewers at home and officials on the field, Toney was definitely offside on the play in question, and the officials’ call was absolutely correct.
Are Mahomes and the Chiefs saying this wasn’t offsides? If this isn’t off sides I don’t know what is. pic.twitter.com/kjI22Y5pyS
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) December 11, 2023
Nonetheless, even after Mahomes would have had time to look at the tape and see that the call was correct, he continued his rant at the officials during the post-game conference.
“It’s tough to swallow,” Mahomes said via ESPN’s Jeff Darlington. “Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis [Kelce] to make a play like that, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game. They’re human. They make mistakes. But every week, we’re talking about something. . . . It’s the call. Just in that moment. Not for myself. To have a flag change the outcome of the game. I’ve never had offensive offsides called. If it does, they warn you. There wasn’t a warning the entire game. And then you make a call like that in the final minute? Another game, we’re talking about the refs. It’s not what we want for the NFL. It’s not what we want for football.”
“To take away greatness like that … I know as fans you want to see the guys on the field decide the game.”
– Patrick Mahomes on the offsides call that negated a TD pic.twitter.com/AVh2CWsjli
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 11, 2023
The irony is that Mahomes’ sentiment is precisely the same as those who have been on the losing end of calls throughout the season. Except, in this case, the referees were actually right. There’s also something very rich about Pat Mahomes lamenting the unfair calls taking place this year since he and his team have benefitted probably more than any other team from bad calls.
One can only imagine Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner had to have had quite the chuckle hearing Mahomes complain about bad officiating.
On the other hand, Pat Mahomes is arguably the biggest star in the NFL. So, even though he is 100 percent wrong in this case and has benefitted far more than most when it comes to shoddy officiating, the fact that he is the one complaining about it might actually result in the league doing something about its obviously terrible, no good officials.