Over the last several years, the narrative around the Kansas City Chiefs has been that they benefit from receiving preferential referee treatment. Chiefs Kingdom revile this sentiment from the rest of NFL fans. On Friday night, Kansas City's season opener proved that the refs aren't in the Chiefs' back pocket.
In the third quarter, Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart was penalized for unnecessary roughness for open-hand slapping Travis Kelce. Though players usually get ejected for actions like these, Tart was not since it was an open-handed slap. The decision not to eject the 28-year-old upset Chiefs fans.
Chiefs Fans Upset with Questionable Refing Decisions After Week 1
On the surface, the explanation given for why Tart wasn't ejected is logical. While he did intentionally hit Kelce, he didn't punch him, which is the action that leads to ejection. However, if the roles were flipped, there would be an outcry around the league that the Kansas City player wasn't ejected.
Despite hatred coming with greatness, the way other NFL fans defend referees when penalties don't go in the Chiefs' favor is laughable. Moreover, allowing Tart to stay in the game directly affected the outcome.
During the Chiefs ' two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter, the 28-year-old was able to get his hand up and knock down the ball. This resulted in Kansas City not being able to tie the game and contributed to their loss. There's a possibility that if Tart had been ejected, the Chiefs would have scored on their two-point conversion, and the outcome of the game would have been different.
In addition to Tart not being ejected, the referees also missed a crucial penalty at the end of the game. On the Chargers' penultimate scoring drive, the refs missed a clear holding penalty. By not throwing the flag, it allowed Justin Herbert to find Quentin Johnston 23-yard touchdown.
Again, if the roles were reversed, NFL fans would be going crazy that the refs missed a blatant hold call on the Chiefs. But since it went against Kansas City, no one cares. Honestly, that's sad to see because NFL fans should want a game to be called fairly, even if it is a team they have grown to hate.
Nevertheless, Chiefs fans now have multiple examples from Week 1 alone to point at and show that referees in fact do not favor them. Any fan or media member who keeps up this narrative is just being foolish at this point.