It is Super Bowl media week, which means there is a ton of time and not a lot of real football to be discussed. For this year's Super Bowl that has resulted in the Kansas City Chiefs referee conspiracy theory getting a lot more serious airtime than is really necessary. Or at least that felt like the case on Monday, when both NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt were both asked about the idea that the officiating favors KC.
Goodell responded as expected, calling it a "ridiculous theory" and musing about how social media doesn't reflect real life. Hunt, for his part, went further to express how absurd he believes the narrative to be.
Speaking to Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport for The Insiders on NFL Network, Hunt bluntly stated that any theories suggesting the league or the officials are conspiring to allow the Chiefs to win are just excuses for the success they've earned.
"You almost have to laugh at it," Hunt said, "because you know how everybody in the NFL wants to compete to win. That's true of our guys as well. The referees are doing the best job they can. If you look at the stats, there are a lot of stats that show we've been on the wrong side of calls as often as we've been on the right side.
"There’s definitely no conspiracy, right? It’s the nature of the game. And when you start having a lot of success, people like to start making excuses for why you’re having the success."
“There’s definitely no conspiracy, right? It’s the nature of the game. And when you start having a lot of success, people like to start making excuses for why you’re having the success.”
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 4, 2025
Our chat with #Chiefs owner Clark Hunt tonight on The Insiders @nflnetwork: pic.twitter.com/4ZyoxdxmYm
In other words, haters gonna hate.
As silly as the entire idea might be to Hunt it is undeniably part of the Super Bowl narrative fabric at this point. The refs for Super Bowl LIX will be under intense scrutiny no matter what happens.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chiefs Owner Calls Referee Conspiracy Theories 'Excuses' for Team's Success.
