PFT: NFL Blames Chiefs, Eagles Players Using Wrong Cleats for Slipping in Super Bowl

While players openly criticized the state of the playing surface for Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL believes another issue may have been at play.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported "the league blames the players for not wearing the right shoes." Florio noted some Eagles players changed their cleats in the middle of the game but that "it didn't seem to matter."

"The Sodfather" became a minor character nobody expected to emerge from the Chiefs' 38-35 victory over the Eagles.

George Toma is the groundskeeper who has advised the NFL on the Super Bowl turf since the event's inception. It didn't take long for fans to become very familiar with the 94-year-old as players increasingly lost their footing.

Speaking to ESPN's Josh Weinfuss weeks later, Toma said the blame laid squarely with NFL field director Ed Mangan.

The playing surface at State Farm Stadium can be rolled in and out of the venue. Toma contended Mangan didn't let the field dry enough outside after it was last watered on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl.

He also argued Mangan "sanded it two weeks too late."

"He had only one sanding," Toma said." He should have had two or three sandings, but he didn't do s--t. And that was it. And not only that, he didn't take care of it. He wouldn't listen to anybody."

The NFL said the field ultimately passed inspection and was deemed good enough to play on.

Especially after Florio's report, it seems there are plenty of people willing to apportion blame. In terms of taking accountability, it's a different story.