Travis Kelce wants some answers.
The Chiefs superstar тιԍнт end was asked during Super Bowl 2025 Opening Night what his one question to reporters would be if he could ask one.
Kelce didn’t waste a second to respond.
“Why are you guys leaning into this whole ref thing? You know what I mean, why are you guys leaning into it? That’s all I got, though,” he said from his podium.
Accusations of favoritism toward the Chiefs from the officials have been a H๏τ-ʙuттon issue during their playoff run this season, with a number of questionable calls leading fans to speculate if there was some validity to the online conspiracy theories.
Everyone from Patrick Mahomes to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have pushed back on the growing narrative.
Goodell called the idea “ridiculous” during a news conference in New Orleans on Monday.
“This sort of reminds me a little bit of the script, right? That I write the script and have the script for the entire season,” Goodell said.
“A lot of those theories are things that happen on social media and they get a new life. Nobody wants it to be their theory. I understand it. It reflects a lot of the fans’ pᴀssion. It also is a reminder for us how important officiating is.”
Several poignant moments have caused rancor among football fans over calls by the officials who favored Kansas City.
The Texans were called for an unnecessary roughness call against Patrick Mahomes as the quarterback slid, which drew an exasperated, “Oh, come on” from Troy Aikman in the ESPN booth.
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Then in the AFC Championship game, a suspect spot on fourth down cost Josh Allen and the Bills a first down while leading by one point early in the fourth quarter.
The refs also provided a bizarre explanation in the second quarter for a Xavier Worthy catch that many thought was either an incomplete pᴀss or an interception by Buffalo.
And while the Chiefs and the league would like the storyline to go away, the narrative isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon.
