The Kansas City Chiefs were none too pleased with the officiating in their 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 14. An offsides penalty called on wideout Kadarius Toney negated what would have been the go-ahead touchdown scored by the receiver in a lateral from tight end Travis Kelce on Kansas City's final drive of the game. Mahomes was visibly upset on the sideline and both he and head coach Andy Reid were critical of the officiating postgame, which has now put them in the crosshairs of the league office.
The NFL has since fined both Reid and Mahomes for their postgame comments regarding the officials, per NFL Media. Specifically, Reid was hit with a $100,000 fine while Mahomes was fined $50,000.
Patrick Mahomes very emotional on the sidelines. pic.twitter.com/nkq3kIvDqa
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 11, 2023
"It's tough to swallow," Mahomes told reporters postgame. "Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis [Kelce] to make a play like that. Who knows if we win, but I know as fans you want to see the guys on the field decide the game. That's why last week I didn't say anything about the flag that didn't get called on Marquez [Valdes-Scantling]. They're human, man. They make mistakes. But it's every week, we're talking about something.
"... It's the call. Just in that moment. Not for myself. I know how much everybody puts into this game and to have a flag change the outcome of the game. I've played for seven years and I've never had offensive offsides called. That's elementary school. You point to the ref and they warn you. There was no warning throughout the entire game. And you wait until there is a minute left in the game to make a call like that? It's tough, man. Loss for words. Regardless if we win or lose, it's another game, we're talking about the refs. It's just not what we want for the NFL and for football."
As for Reid, he called the ruling by the officials "a bit embarrassing."
"Very disappointed that it ended the way it did," Reid said, via NFL.com. "Normally I'll get -- I never use any of this as excuses, but normally I get a warning before something like that happens in a big game. (It's) a bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place … I've been in the league a long time and I haven't had one like that. So, not where, at least in that kind of position there where it is not given a heads up to."
Earlier this week at the December League Meeting in Texas, commissioner Roger Goodell commented on the play that riled up both Mahomes and Reid and noted that the officials made the right call.
"I find it a little ironic when you say attention on officiating when I think almost everybody, to my knowledge, is acknowledging that the officials were absolutely correct," Goodell said. "That's their job to call when there's a foul. There was no question about that foul. It was absolutely the right call."
The NFL has historically taken critical remarks about officials seriously, and that has come to fruition in the form of a fine for both Reid and Mahomes.