The San Francisco 49ers may not be in the playoffs, but their fans must be rolling their eyes watching the Kansas City Chiefs get away with the same old stuff they usually get away with.
In Kansas City's AFC divisional round matchup against the Houston Texans, there were several calls that clearly went in KC's favor.
An unnecessary roughness call went against Houston on the play below even though quarterback Patrick Mahomes was hardly even touched:
"Oh, come on! I mean, he's a runner. I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit." - Troy Aikman
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025
"The two Houston players hit each other. That should not have been a foul." - Russell Yurk
"They've gotta address it in the offseason..." - Aikman 🏈🎙️🦓 #NFL https://t.co/vXj2v7VTKg pic.twitter.com/QioQ5IQwhg
Niners fans are used to all of this though dating back to their team's loss against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl held back in 2020. The Faithful will not forget the obvious hold against defensive lineman Nick Bosa that was not called on a crucial third-down play in the fourth quarter that completely shifted the momentum in the game.
Refs did not cost the 49ers this game, but Nick Bosa was held on that key 3rd and 15 bomb from Pat Mahomes to Tyreek Hill pic.twitter.com/cltYi7SdGy
— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) February 3, 2020
For a closer look at how egregious the hold was, look below.
Since 2019 & counting... https://t.co/g4x2U7TriM pic.twitter.com/qe5xmASaU3
— FoN9ne (@FoN9ne) January 20, 2025
For those who think these are just the crazed conspiracy theories of sore-loser Niners fans, head coach Kyle Shanahan even called out the refs to their face during last season's Super Bowl when they were calling holds against San Francisco that were not being called against Kansas City.
#49ers Kyle Shanahan tried to warn the refs that the #Chiefs were holding during the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/T4MlMb8FcU
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) February 15, 2024
Shanahan acknowledged that what left tackle Trent Williams did on the play did constitute a hold, but he also said that Chiefs players were doing the exact same thing and that it needed to be called both ways.
These are just a few instances of a seeming double standard for what is called against Kansas City. It may seem like sour grapes, but even ESPN color commentator Troy Aikman was openly fed up with the calls that occurred in the Chiefs-Texans game.
This is not to suggest that the NFL is scripted or that the only reason the Chiefs win so much is because they get calls from the refs. Yet, it is because the Chiefs are so good that bad calls like that are even more egregious. They would probably still win even without the beneficial calls, so they don't exactly need the extra help.
One can only hope that there are not any egregious controversial penalties in the AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
But, given recent history, it seems like KC will probably get the benefit of the doubt on any borderline penalties.