The awful officiating in the AFC Championship had NFL fans calling the game rigged for the Chiefs

Heading into the AFC Championship Game, plenty of Chiefs fans were melting down over the Super Bowl officiating assignment — a game they hadn’t even reached yet. Well, if the NFL was operating under some anti-Chiefs bias, they sure hid it well in Sunday’s game against the Bengals.

In the second half, especially, the Bengals sideline was in a state of disbelief when the Chiefs were given a mulligan on a third-down play because an official tried to stop play before the snap. On that do-over third down, the Chiefs ended up getting the first down by virtue of a penalty.

While the whole sequence didn’t make much of a difference as the Chiefs punted, it represented a trend of strange calls going against the Bengals all half.

Chiefs get a do over on 3rd down because the ref stopped the play, why did he stop it? pic.twitter.com/Xvt129Nscj

— Ted Buddwell (@TedBuddy8) January 30, 2023

"Gene, sort this out." pic.twitter.com/WpIRNoM9ao

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 30, 2023

There was also a weak pass interference call against Mike Hilton that extended a Chiefs drive.

Agree with the Pass Interference call on Mike Hilton? pic.twitter.com/dyo5uF3PXw

— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) January 30, 2023

The Chiefs didn’t even need to score off of any of these calls to have fans furious. The officiating left a lot to be desired.