The Kansas City Chiefs have dominated the NFL in recent years, and with that dominance has come an inevitable question: Do the Chiefs get preferential treatment from referees? Fans of the NFL are quick to accuse the league of favouring Patrick Mahomes and company, but is there substance to these claims? Using statistics from the 2024 season, we can explore whether the Chiefs benefit from more than just their talent.
How Often are the Chiefs Flagged?
The Chiefs were flagged 94 times in 2024, ranking 30th in the league in total penalties. That’s fewer penalties than all but two teams—the Los Angeles Rams (91) and Arizona Cardinals (92). Their penalty yardage, at 829 yards, was also one of the league’s lowest.
Compare this to the New York Jets, who led the NFL with 137 penalties for 1,134 yards, and it’s easy to see why some fans feel the Chiefs are getting a free pass. Even when matched against similarly successful teams, like the Philadelphia Eagles (103 penalties, 793 yards) and the Buffalo Bills (112 penalties, 833 yards), Kansas City’s numbers stand out as remarkably low.
Critics often point to judgment calls like defensive pass interference (DPI) or unnecessary roughness as areas where the Chiefs might benefit. However, in 2024, Kansas City was flagged for DPI nine times and unnecessary roughness six times, both totals ranking relatively average compared to the other 31 teams. When investigating the calls that rely more on judgment than objectivity, the Chiefs get flagged no more or less than the average team.
The Chiefs are Simply Disciplined
The “Delay of Game” flag is one of the more objective penalties in football, and the Chiefs were only flagged once for it. This is a result of an Andy Reid-led team consistently being one of the best-disciplined teams in football, rather than referee bias. Statistics like these can significantly lower the total penalty count of a team over a season, leading to suspicion for the average fan. But when digging deeper, the Chiefs may just be a well-coached team with stronger discipline and a methodical play style.
Are the Chiefs Really the Outlier?
When you factor in the high-profile nature of the Chiefs, led by MVP-caliber players like Mahomes and Travis Kelce, it is not hard to see why fans suspect favouritism. It only takes a couple of key moments in tight games to change a season in an instance, making it easy for fans to shift their blame onto a controversial call.
A clear example of this can be seen in the 2023 AFC Championship game, where the Chiefs barely escaped with a win over the Bengals after a controversial unnecessary roughness call led to a game-winning field goal. Whether the call was correct or not can still be debated, but moments like that can drastically sway the public opinion of a team, and in this case, lead to over-exaggerated narratives that might not be true upon deeper investigation.
While the Chiefs’ dominance and a few controversial moments may fuel suspicion, the data suggests their low penalty counts are more a result of discipline and coaching rather than referee bias.