Reckless: Was Patrick Mahomes failed by the referees in Super Bowl LIX?

Patrick Mahomes didn’t play well in Super Bowl LIX. In part due to his own bad performance, in part due to some failings by his offensive line. All season, there have been conspiracy theories that Mahomes and the Chiefs have been favored by referees, in Super Bowl LIX, that was turned on its head.

Late in the game, with the result put to bed, Mahomes dropped back attempting a deep shot to at least give his team a chance to score some points. Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams collapsed the pocket and strip-sacked Mahomes in another display of Philadelphia’s dominance. Shortly after Williams’ tackle, Jalen Carter hit Mahomes in the head with both hands.

There was no flag thrown for this hit, instead an unsportsmanlike penalty was called against Milton Williams for his celebration. The result would have been the same, 15 yards against the Eagles as the hit came after Mahomes had fumbled, but considering there was no flag against Carter, it begs the question, did the refs fail Mahomes?

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Given the NFL’s attempts to ensure the safety of their players in recent times, the refs no-call on Jalen Carter’s hit could be viewed as dangerous. Carter presumably didn’t attempt to injure his opposing quarterback, but the hit was still dangerous and wasn’t picked up on by the officials.

The 40-22 scoreline ends any discussion over the refs favoring the Chiefs, but it opens the door to us wondering the NFL officials were aware of the perception and made sure to call as balanced a game as possible.

Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins even mentioned the refs post-game, saying, “I saw a lot of things in the media about the refs. There was a lot of touchy calls [against the Chiefs]. Are y’all gonna report that? Are y’all gonna talk about the refs now?” Per The Washington Post.

Are Hopkins’ comments just the Chiefs players experiencing what every team has felt when playing against them in recent years? Or, is a player nearing the end of his career just angry that he didn’t get the Super Bowl ring he was desperate for.

Whatever way you want to look at it, the game was called fairly, with both teams receiving seven flags against them, 75 yards for the Chiefs and 59 for the Eagles, per The Washington Post.

If DeAndre Hopkins' comments about the referees were correct, we doubt it would've made much difference to the scoreline. The Chiefs scored two touchdowns with just minutes left to add some respectability to the score, without that, it's a 30+ point loss.

Given the Eagles dominated the game so thoroughly, it feels like a waste of time to focus much on the refereeing in this game, but, given the ongoing noise around the Chiefs and referees, it’s worth looking at. We don’t think the refs ever favor one team or another consciously, but we’re sure some biases exist at times. Hopefully, for now, we can just enjoy what was an incredible display of football by Philadelphia.

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