Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Kansas City Chiefs got the benefit of a call from the officials.
The Chiefs were leading the Buffalo Bills 14-10 late in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. They had a 3rd-and-5 and threw a pass near the goal line for Xavier Worthy, who competed with Cole Bishop for the ball.
Both players leaped for the ball, and Worthy was credited with a catch on the field. Separately, there was a flag thrown on the play on Damar Hamlin for defensive holding on the other side of the field.
The Chiefs declined the penalty since the catch took the ball down to the 3-yard line. The Bills challenged the call of a catch, feeling the ball had hit the ground.
Even though this ball CLEARLY hit the ground and neither player had complete possession the refs rule that this was a catch by Xavier Worthy.
The Chiefs 🤝 The Refspic.twitter.com/hDMOoLq6xt
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 27, 2025
Despite the ball clearly hitting the ground, the officials reviewed the play and let the call on the field stand.
KC ended up with 1st-and-goal from the 3 thanks to the call standing. They wound up scoring on a run by Patrick Mahomes and took a 21-10 lead.
There has been an increasing perception that the Chiefs benefit from calls from the officials. Calls like this one won’t help that perception.
