Kansas City Chiefs continued their unbeaten start to the NFL season after scraping through past the Cincinnati Bengals 26-25 on Sunday in Week 2. However, the end of the contest caused a big controversy as Bengals legend T.J. Houshmandzadeh called out the officials for allegedly favoring the reigning Super Bowl champions.
The Chiefs went 2-0 up after a controversial defensive interference call made by the officials. The scoreline read 23-25 in the Bengals' favor when Trey Hendrickson put Patrick Mahomes under pressure on a third down. Cincinnati were handed a penalty for that as the pass rusher was impeded from reaching the passer. This opened up a 4th and 16th situation and the clock was already within two-minute warning.
Andy Reid had no choice but to go for it, they weren't in the field goal range and needed a moment of miracle. Mahomes duly delivered in the crunch time as he missed out on his pass downfield. The referees then called a defensive pass interference for competing with the ball and the logic given was that he struck into the offensive player from behind on a catchable ball.
With the debatable call being made, fans felt that the referring was questionable as T.J. Houshmandzadeh led the protest against NFL saying that the remaining matches should be gifted to the Chiefs.
"Give every game to the Chiefs rest of season. Refs in their favor every game. Why play the game if we know results beforehand?," he wrote on X.
Harrison Butker's game-winning field goal separated the two teams eventually as the Chiefs ran away with a win on their home turf at the Arrowhead Stadium. With two wins from as many games, the side coached by Ried have begun their title defence on a perfect note after beating the Ravens 27-20 in the season opener.