As in American life, perception is often reality in the NFL.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his team appeared to receive a bevy of favorable calls in 2024—and thus, the public deemed that belief fact. The narrative dogged the Chiefs right up until their 40–22 Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9, at which point it suddenly and mysteriously died down.
On Wednesday, much to the chagrin of a conspiracy-loving nation, the NFL released a study that appeared to find no correlation between a quarterback's status and the number of favorable calls he received. Mahomes did receive slightly more calls than the median quarterback, but not by much.
Wondering how the officials treated your favorite team's quarterback? Take a look at this chart, shared in its original incarnation by Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Most Calls Received Per 100 Hits on "Pass Attempts, Sacks, Scrambles and Designed Runs," NFL Quarterbacks, 2024
As the league pointed out, quality quarterbacks are scattered throughout the rankings—making officiating bias, as in every sport, almost impossible to prove or disprove.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Releases Data Ranking Quarterbacks by Most Penalties Drawn on Hits.
