This was a post I just had to put down. It is yet another after-loss second-parter related to just how stupid yesterday's affair was. One reason it was stupid was because it was almost a mirror copy of the Colts game -- just a bunch of stupid things happening to our team that meant we were destined to lose. And by a bunch, I mean a lot of things.
I could get into them, there were so many crushing ones -- that Bengals defender just happening to get his arm deep into Kelce's grip to force that critically bad fumble, Butker missing a FG he should be making, four defenders not being able to corral their WR late and keep him from getting, barely, the 1st down that clinched it for them, Orlando Brown suddenly just not blocking when they rushed only three leading to Mahomes' sack on 3rd-&-short.
There were also the asswipe things the Bengals did, like that guy flopping in the end zone faking an injury to keep the Chiefs from catching the Bengals defense unprepared. You'd like to think we'd be good enough to overcome those kinds of things the other team does, but, well, sometimes the wicked seem to win far too often. That's just life.
What I wanted to do was just take a post and itemize the ways that yesterday, yet again, the officiating was instrumental in helping a Chiefs opponent win.
First, I truly think it is idiotic to blap about how no one should blame any officiating for anything because the calls even out. The truth is no, they don't. While yesterday there were those calls that went against the Bengals, they were legit calls. So saying the calls were even says nothing. Far more questionable calls went against the Chiefs that cost them dearly, and anyone watching the game knows it. I've even seen several remarks made in whatever media venues to that effect.
Second, I don't necessarily know how much some of these calls cost us, but one of the keys to poor officiating afflicting one team is that it definitely affects the overall play of the team. Often a team's players really don't know how much they are doing they feel is legit that will cost them, so they may be dialing it back some to try not to commit some cheap foul. Also here I'm only citing particular ones I made note of.
Third, because the Chiefs were on the road and it is obvious the NFL does not want them to succeed too much, the Scorecasting factor is always in play, and generally mostly debilitating to the Chiefs. Remember that is the truth that officials can sway game events towards a particular favored outcome, even if they are not consciously doing so.
So here you go:
Right out of the gate there was that pass interference call on Trent McDuffie that negated an interception and big return by Juan Thornhill. Sorry, but it was not pass interference, yet their WR really sold it, another asswipe thing the Bengals did to manipulate the game. I do believe the Bengals went on to score a TD after that, so really, effectively, that was a 14-point swing.
Right after that was a roughing-the-passer call on an incomplete pass from their QB. Sorry, but again, what the D-lineman did was not a penalty. It was just a regular QB drop the second after he released the ball, nothing excessive or out of the ordinary.
When the Chiefs had the ball they got a beautiful 3rd-&-15 conversion only to have it called back for an ineligible man downfield -- we did not later get the 1st down and had to punt. Apparently the rule is something like two yards or something impossible like that and you're flagged for it. And this miniscule infraction gave us an advantage on this particular play in what way now?
In the 3rd quarter, I believe it was against Justin Watson, the Bengals defender delivered an obvious helmet-to-helmet hit against him, but it was not called. Again, I can't see how our hits are so penalty-worthy but theirs are not.
Shortly after that, Marquez Valdes-Scantling made an terrific catch in traffic while the Bengals guy was all over him committing pass interference. MVS made the play, but still no flag was thrown.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the Bengals were called for holding for what I believe was the first time in the game. I'm not the best with seeing offensive holding, but it sure looked like Chris Jones was steamed quite a bit as the game wore on, directing his ire at the refs a few times. I have to think Jones had a case because the Bengals O-line has been notorious for poor pass protection. Their QB had been pressured like crazy this season and sacked at least twice in every game this season, but in this one he was free as a bird to do great damage against us. Did our Chris Jones-led D-line suddenly become that impotent or their O-line suddenly become world-beaters?
These were just the ones I noted, very obviously officiating gone bad yet again afflicting the Chiefs. Lots of bigshots can screech about how complaining about the refs means nothing, but their complaining about the legit concerns doesn't change that one-sided reffing does change game outcomes.
Now as a last word, the Bengals do have a talented, well-coached team. The Chiefs have a young secondary that in a dime defense could have four rookie D-backs on the field at the same time. And again, there were just so many goofy-dumb things that happened to the Chiefs to go along with the one-sided officiating, and...
After all that we only lost by three points.
Fortunately the Chiefs players are all "We'll learn from this, work harder, and do better next time." Good for them, that's the attitude they should have. That is the thing that will get them to overcome all these ding-dong obstacles because they'll surely still be there in games to come.
We, however, us fans who know better and are free to push back against those who tell us not to notice the idiotic things the NFL, its officiating, and the Scorecasting-oriented things do to us -- we can notice it and expose it and write about it all we want.
Good to know our team does fine, honest work out there win or lose, makes one proud to be a part of the Chiefs Kingdom.
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