The Kansas City Chiefs have an opportunity to make some NFL history on Sunday at Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.
And while being the first team to win three straight Super Bowls would be quite the accomplishment, a good portion of NFL fans are actively rooting against it to actually happen.
Few would argue the Chiefs are one of the top teams in the NFL, but the manner in which they reached Super Bowl 59 has been a hot-button topic of discussion for the last five-plus months.
Twelve of Kansas City’s wins 17 wins this season including the playoffs have come in one-score games, and nearly half of them had some sort of controversial flag thrown or a seemingly blatant non-call that benefitted the Chiefs in some way, leading to fans starting an “NFL is rigged” movement on social media.
So, heading into Sunday’s matchup against the Eagles, a large contingency of fans are actively rooting against Kansas City because of the perception the NFL officials helped pave the way for them to get back to the Super Bowl.
With so much vitriol coming from the fans toward the Chiefs, it seems the NFL has a new villain, similar to the way the New England Patriots were when they won six Super Bowls under former head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady from 2001 to 2018 — an issue Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes isn’t blind to and one he addressed during Super Bowl Media Day on Monday.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) at a press conference in advance of Super Bowl LIX at New Orleans Marriott.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“I don’t even think it’s embracing being the villains,” Mahomes told reporters. “We embrace who we are. We believe we play the game the right way. We believe we play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion for the game. And we win football games, and if winning football games makes you a villain, we’re going to keep going out there and doing it.”
The Chiefs have seemingly always had an us-against-the-world mentality over the years, but this year feels a little different.
Some media pundits have openly criticized them during their recent run, but this year seems like the first time their heel role has been front-and-center in the headlines.
And while the Chiefs may have quite a few people pulling for their demise, the team seems perfectly content with embracing its anti-hero role.
“I love it,” tight Travis Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast. “… I’m enjoying doing this with the guys that we have in there because it just makes us even more of a family. You just circle the wagons. People are saying whatever they want and they’re hating on you, you just banded together and it just makes you appreciate more of what you have because people want what you have.”