Fans Enraged After Chiefs Called for Zero Penalties in Big Win Over Lions

While Chiefs coach Andy Reid didn’t explicitly request that his team receive no penalties, his low-key complaint about the officiating seems to have been heeded, consciously or subconsciously.

Last week, after the defending AFC champs were flagged a whopping 13 times during their loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Reid took a subtle yet noticeable jab at the officiating in his post-game comments.

“We had 13 penalties, to their four,” the three-time Super Bowl winner said. “Whether I agree with them or don’t agree with them, it doesn’t matter. They called them. So, you have that many penalties, you give up field position, you can out-stat them to death, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the score that matters.”

Fast-forward a week, and the change was dramatic.

Reid’s squad was called for exactly zero penalties in their 30-17 home win against the Lions.

Which seems completely normal, right? After all, teams go from 13 penalties to zero all the time, right? Right?

Not only were fans upset by the absence of any infractions on the Chiefs, but they also pointed out a few plays where the Chiefs could and should have been penalized.

One of those no-calls involved Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who clearly taunted Brian Branch after scoring a touchdown.

Then there was this blatant hold by Travis Kelce, which went unflagged by the crew and went unnoticed by the broadcast booth.

Here we have a montage of uncalled or unreviewed things that went Kansas City’s way. Including a catch that shouldn’t have been for tight end Travis Kelce, the aforementioned hold by Kelce, and another hold on an offensive lineman as Mahomes was running right by.

And lest we forget, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s blatant block in the back on Brian Branch that went uncalled and precipitated the brawl at the end of the game. Disclaimer: What Branch did was wrong, but this should have been called.

And how about this little piece of history for those who think it’s common for teams to go unpenalized in the NFL?

So, the Chiefs account for 25% of the 12 penalty-free games in the last six years. That also looks pretty normal and not fishy at all.

Now, in fairness, Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones was called for a penalty, which the Lions declined. Still, that does little to make up for the plethora of blatant non-calls and unreviewed plays that contributed bigly to Kansas City’s win.