The only thing hotter than a ticket for the Bills-Chiefs AFC title game might be football fans' hatred for referees' perceived partiality toward the Chiefs.
I caught wind of a penalty trend from Warren Sharp (Sharp Football Analysis) via ESPN and had to see for myself just how rare it was historically. Turns out, Kansas City is in rare air. The Chiefs have gone 11 straight playoff games without committing more penalties than their opponents, the longest streak by any team in the last 30 years.
The only teams with longer streaks in playoff history were the 1970-82 Dolphins (18) and 1984-91 Broncos (12).
That's right. Since the 2021 postseason, the Chiefs have more penalties than their opponent zero times in 11 playoff games (0%). During the regular season in that span, they have more penalties than their opponents in 25 of 68 games (37%).
That is a very abnormal disparity in the playoffs, even with the relatively small sample.
If you look at the entire Patrick Mahomes era as a starter (since 2018), the Chiefs are second-worst in penalty yard differential during the regular season, but best in the playoffs.
This, of course, comes on the heels of a public outcry after two very questionable hits on Mahomes were flagged from Saturday's win over the Texans. Not to mention, Mahomes' laughable flop later in the game.
For the record, Mahomes has not gotten the most roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness calls in the league since 2018.
In fact, Josh Allen has been on the receiving end of more roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness calls than Mahomes in each of the last 7 seasons, including playoffs. The total in that span is 61 for Allen, 39 for Mahomes. They are both still among the league leaders since 2018.
Complaints about penalties against Mahomes are probably overblown because of the gravity of the situations we have seen them in. It's still hard to chalk up the overall Chiefs penalty disparity to great coaching. We are talking about ELEVEN straight playoff games they haven't had more penalties than their opponents.
Needless to say, all eyes will be on the referees in Sunday's AFC title game.
