Patrick, Brittany Mahomes Call Out 'MVP' Refs After Chiefs Lose to Bills

Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, were livid after the Kansas City Chiefs fell to the Buffalo Bills 20-17 on Sunday.

The Chiefs' star quarterback was held back from the officials after they threw a flag that wiped out a go-ahead touchdown with 1:12 to go. Facing second-and-10, Mahomes dropped back and found Travis Kelce with a 25-yard pass that would have given the Chiefs a first down and field-goal position. But the Chiefs weren't done: Kelce fired a lateral pass to Kadarius Toney, who was wide open to his left. Toney ran the remaining 24 yards into the end zone.

Toney, however, was lined up offsides prior to the snap, and officials had already thrown a flag. The play was called back.

Now up against a second-and-15, Mahomes threw three straight incompletions (including two attempts to Kelce), and the Chiefs lost their second game in a row, and their third game in four attempts.

Mahomes didn't hold back in the aftermath, calling the moment "hard to swallow."

"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, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game," Mahomes told reporters. "[The officials] are human. They make mistakes. But every week, we're talking about something."

Mahomes noted that officials don't generally call offensive off-sides in that moment.

"To have a flag change the outcome of the game, I've never had offensive offsides called," Mahomes said. "If it does, they warn you. There wasn't a warning the entire game. And then you make a call like that in the final minute? Another game, we're talking about the refs. It's not what we want for the NFL. It's not what we want for football."

The lack of a heads-up regarding Toney's position seemed to be the Chiefs' biggest complaint.

"Normally I get a warning before something like that happens in a big game," Andy Reid told reporters. "A bit embarrassing for the National Football league for that to take place."

Brittany Mahomes was as angry as her husband and his coach, calling the officials "MVP" in an Instagram post.

Referee Carl Cheffers, however, told reporters that players are responsible for where they line up, although officials will generally give a receiver alignment advice if he looks over.

"And certainly, no warning is required, especially if they are lined up so far offsides where they're actually blocking our view of the ball," Cheffers said. "So, we would give them some sort of warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond warning."

The Chiefs maintain their standing at the top of the AFC West, but they now lead the Denver Broncos by just one game after the Broncos beat the Chargers on Sunday. At 8-5, they trail the Baltimore Ravens by two games following Baltimore's dramatic win against the Rams, and they share a record with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns. They take on the New England Patriots on Sunday.

The Bills, meanwhile, improved to 7-6 and remained in the playoff hunt, tied with five other AFC teams including two currently in the playoff picture (the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts). The Bills face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.