Super Bowl 2025: Andy Reid addresses officials, says 'They don't favor one side or the other'
NEW ORLEANS — It's not like the Kansas City Chiefs can escape the talk about officiating heading into Super Bowl LIX.
Even if they missed the constant complaints from fans and social media memes about how officials favored the Chiefs, they've been asked about it during the week. So has NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who said it was a "ridiculous theory" that officials favored Kansas City. Chiefs owner Clark Hunt stated the obvious, that there's no conspiracy theory and that you "almost have to laugh at it." The NFL Referees Association chimed in too, saying the chatter was "insulting and preposterous."
The Chiefs have been fairly careful with the questions this week, shutting down the ridiculousness of officiating conspiracy theories without saying something controversial that will take on a life of its own during Super Bowl week. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid toed that line too when he was asked about it Thursday.
"Listen, I don't think the officials care about what is said, they're doing their job and they're doing it to the best of their ability," Reid said in his final media availability before Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. "They don't favor one side or the other. That's not how this thing goes. It's a good story, but that's not reality. It's insulting them to think that's what they do.
"They go out and they call it like they see it. As a coach there's some [calls] I sit there and I don't agree with, some I agree with, that's how it goes. But it does make for a good story."
It's not just the Chiefs who aren't buying the narrative.
"They don't get all the calls," former Giants quarterback Eli Manning told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. "You can go through a game and pick out certain plays that, 'Oh he's a little short' or 'Oh they got this call.' They get calls thrown against them.
"They're in the big games, they're in the AFC championships, they're in the Super Bowls. You have a lot of games to look at and you can sugar-coat it and make the narrative whatever you want to do if you pick certain plays. They're a great team and they're just in so many big games you can find a lot to pick from."
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who asked the media on Monday why it was "leaning into this whole ref thing" was asked Thursday about the notion that the Chiefs were being "helped" during their dynasty. Kelce didn't answer about the officiating, but understood that the Chiefs have become the NFL's villains like the New England Patriots.
"I don't remember hating on them as much," Kelce said, "but I remember having the desire of wanting to be like them and be on the top of the mountain."