The haters are gonna hate, that one catchy song goes, and former NFL rules czar Dean Blandino is unable to shake off the allegations of referees being pro-Chiefs and the NFL wanting a certain pop star at Super Bowl 2025 from his own brother.
“(He says) the league is rigged and that I can’t say anything about it. I say, ‘Listen, hey, I think if there was a script, I think the head of officiating would be pretty important in that process and no one ever invited me in the room,” Blandino said Tuesday on SiriusXM Radio.
“My brother is like, ‘They want Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl.’ 150 million people are gonna watch the Super Bowl regardless of Taylor Swift being there. Like enough, stop.”
To the league’s chagrin, one of the prevailing storylines heading into Super Bowl 2025 is whether the Chiefs are receiving a generous whistle while they go for the league’s first-ever three-peat.
Many have questioned the referees ruling Bills quarterback Josh Allen short on a pivotal fourth-and-1 sneak in the AFC Championship game last Sunday.
Buffalo led by one at the time and Kansas City immediately scored a go-head touchdown en route to its 32-29 triumph.
That debatable call came on the heels of two controversial calls that went Kansas City’s way in its Divisional Round win over the Texans.
Warren Sharp — an NFL data analyst who has worked for the Eagles, a source told the New Yorker — published figures before the conference championships highlighting how the Chiefs have been penalized less in the playoffs than their opponents during this dynastic stretch.
Blandino served as the NFL’s vice president of officiating from 2013-17 and currently serves as a rules analyst for Fox, and he pushed back against the favoritism allegations.
“The Chiefs have gotten the benefit of calls, but good teams make their own breaks. You think about the Patriots,” Blandino said. “My brother, who is convinced that the league is rigged, that is convinced that I signed a (non-disclosure agreement) when I left the league office that I cannot tell anybody that it’s rigged because I was head of officiating. We grew up in the same household, by the way. I said, ‘Listen, there’s no conspiracy. The officials, there’s too many variables, there’s too much going on.’ To me, it’s the hardest sport — when you think about football with seven different officials, to say, ‘OK, I’m gonna rig this game,’ or the game is rigged from the league office down. The officials are just trying to get it right.”
In mentioning the Patriots, Blandino seemingly was referencing how the same allegations surrounded the Patriots during their dynasty under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
Former Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz went after ESPN’s Adam Schefter for posting statistics highlighting the flags discrepancy involving the Chiefs in the playoffs, pointing out that perhaps it has to do with coaching instead of the referees wanting the Chiefs to win.
“It’s insane that someone in the league is pushing this, and/or allowing the most visible person to spew this kind of BS,” Schwartz posted. “Maybe the Chiefs are better coached and don’t hit QBs late or in the head/neck. Back in my day teams who got less penalties called were considered better coached. Insane.”
Blandino seemed to agree with that sentiment.
“You can’t tell me that the Chiefs have seven straight AFC Championship games, they’re going to play for the three-peat. They’re playing four Super Bowls in six years, that it’s just because of the officiating. They’re a good team and they make their own breaks,” Blandino said. “Yes, have they gotten the benefit of calls? Sure. Other teams get benefits of calls. I just think right now the narrative is so out there that any time any close call goes for the Chiefs, it’s, ‘Oh, here we go again. Here we go again.’ And I’m sure Super Bowl Sunday, we’re going to hear it for the next two weeks.”
The referees will be under the microscope yet again on Feb. 9 when the Chiefs battle the Eagles in a Super Bowl 2023 rematch, a game that featured a questionable call against the Eagles in the final minutes that allowed the Chiefs to kick their game-winning field goal in the 38-35 triumph.