NFL Divisional Round Over Reaction
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the divisional round of the NFL playoffs as championship game matchups are set.
Seriously game
Hatred of chiefs.
When you’re winning (most of the time) like Patrick Mahomes and Co., chasing immortality and a historic Super Bowl three-peat mission, it’s part of the package.
Andy Reid, not everyone loves you. Or at least they’re not feeling the excellence that your team represents as it prepares to host another AFC Championship Game.
I mean, it flows from back-to-back Super Bowl crowns and three in five years. This includes all those close calls and clutch moments. There is also a flood of TV commercials, which portray the coach and star quarterback as the charming pitchman. Travis Kelce. And the sentiment doesn’t ignore Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, who has helped make NFL games entertaining for a whole new demographic.
Are people just sick and tired of the Chiefs? Just being sick and tired?
Take it from Marlon Humphrey, the All-Pro cornerback now sitting at home with the Baltimore Ravens. Here’s how he summed it up with a social media post on X:
“I have no reason to say this except to hate it.” Posted by Humphrey.. “The Bills or whatever NFC team has to beat the Chiefs. We can’t let them get away with it.”
You might think Humphrey is a little salty after suffering just one blow at the hands of the Chiefs.
No it was last year, when the Ravens blew the home field advantage they worked so hard to earn and lost to Kansas City in the AFC title game. This time, Humphrey’s error-prone team fell on the sword Sunday in Buffalo, as the Bulls advanced with a divisional playoff win.
So, when Humphrey talks about the Chiefs “getting away” with things, he’s apparently speaking for the masses.
Or the Houston Texans. Kansas City’s divisional playoff victory on Saturday actually featured two controversial Texas penalties. touching Mahomes in the heat of action. How dare they?
Will Anderson was flagged for crushing a passer in the first quarter, a huge third-down penalty that kept alive a drive that ended with a field goal. In the third quarter, Henry Tuo-Tu was penalized for unnecessary roughness on a play when he did more damage to a teammate than the quarterback who slipped a little late. He moved the chains during a 13-play, 81-yard touchdown drive.
Afterwards, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans claimed, “We knew coming into this game it was us versus everybody.”
In a poll report, referee Clay Martin maintained that the calls were the result of defenders making “forceful contact” to the head and neck area. As much as people want to nitpick, or as much as ESPN analyst Troy Aikman wants to blast the officials in real time, the calls — later backed up by Walt Anderson, the league’s senior VP of officiating — have led to NFL law. Followed to the letter.
But still. Chiefs haters, promoting a conspiracy theory, will tell you that Mahomes gets the same benefit of tick-tick calls as Tom Brady did.
Of course, Mahomes brings some gamesmanship. He has mastered decks and pump fakes on scrambles, often picking up extra yards by forcing defenders to freeze for a moment.
But the idea that he gets an over-the-top favorite is a stretch. Remember the time Kudarius Toney lined up the offsides? It cost the Chiefs a play and Mahomes went ballistic on the sideline, upset that he didn’t get a warning instead of a flag.
In any case, the negativity seems very real. It’s at this point that I spoke to several people in random conversations this week who expressed their unquenchable desire to see the Chiefs fall this weekend. I guess they just wanted to keep it in the universe.
Regardless, they will see. No team in the NFL is a bigger TV draw than the Chiefs, who have surpassed the Dallas Cowboys (who are still highly ranked despite a decades-long championship drought) in the ratings game.
When the Chiefs suffered their first loss of the season at Buffalo in mid-November, the matchup drew an average of 31.2 million viewers – the most for any NFL regular-season game since 2007 outside of the Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve games. More than count. And the Christmas stunner in Pittsburgh was one of the most-streamed NFL games yet, with an average of 24.1 million tuning in on Netflix.
So, sorry, Jerry, while the Chiefs have become “America’s Team” they are also the team that (many) America loves to hate.
Just like it was a few years ago, when the evil empire of the New England Patriots led by Brady and Bill Belichick kept winning Super Bowls.
face it, Kansas City Chiefs: You’ve earned it. Success breeds contempt.
On Sunday, the Chiefs (16-2) will host the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium for the sixth time in seven years. And plenty of people will join Humphrey in rooting for the Buffalo Bills. Just because. They are circling the wagons with anti-KC poison.
Sure, it’s a great rematch of a dramatic game in November. Josh Allen is 4-1 in regular season games against Mahomes and Co. and 0-3 in the playoffs. This is a powerful story in itself. Maybe it’s buffalo time.
Yet it is deeper than that. It’s about eliminating the champion. Or people just want to see someone fresh in the winner’s circle.
You are up, buffalo. The Bulls are suddenly drawn to you with so many honorary members of the Mafia — if for no other reason than to kill the Chiefs.
Bottom line: Don’t hate the Chiefs. Just kill them. if you can.
Follow Jarrett Bell on X. @JarrettBell.
