Ex-NFL Head of Officiating Dean Blandino Talks Perceived Ref Bias for Chiefs, Scripts

Former NFL head of officiating and current Fox Sports' officiating analyst, Dean Blandino, pushed back against the narrative that the Kansas City Chiefs get a favorable whistle from NFL referees.

"Do teams get breaks at times?" he told TMZ Sports. "They do. And not every call is right. And sometimes that happens. I think it evens out over time. But me watching it, I don't see these games and say, 'Oh god, the Chiefs are getting all these calls.' These are close, close plays and they happened to go in the Chiefs' favor on Sunday."

Granted, there is evidence to suggest that in the playoffs, at least, the Chiefs tend to get more calls:

Now, that doesn't mean that the officials are purposefully favoring the Chiefs, though some factors might be at play. For one, the Chiefs are a disciplined team that plays smart, situational football. For another, they put a lot of pressure on defenses with their dynamic offensive scheme, the dual threat of Patrick Mahomes as a rusher and passer and their ability to disguise blitzes and pressure on defense.

Pressure forces mistakes and bad decisions, and the Chiefs keep their opponents under constant stress throughout a game.

And there is also a more human element at play—the Chiefs have played a lot of home playoff games in the Mahomes' era, and the officials may be subtly and psychologically pressured by the Kansas City fans. Home teams often get a better whistle.

But as as for the even more nefarious accusation against the Chiefs and the NFL—that the league manipulates games to ensure Kansas City wins—Blandino found it absurd.

"For it to be really a conspiracy, do you know the amount of people that would have to be involved? Someone, somewhere would slip up and it would get out," he said. "If there's a room somewhere in the NFL offices where they were writing the script, they never invited me—and I was the head of officiating. I feel like I'd be a pretty important contributor to that."