Did Refs Miss Call on Crucial Travis Kelce Fumble?

The Kansas City Chiefs currently find themselves in the middle of a very crowded AFC playoff race. Unfortunately, Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals may have been too much to overcome with just three weeks remaining in the regular season.

The loss drops the Chiefs to 7-6 on the season and behind the San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Wild Card race.

What has to be especially hard to swallow for Kansas City is the fact that the team had what appeared to be a good chance to pull ahead late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. To some, it would appear that game officials took that opportunity away.

With fewer than six minutes remaining in the contest, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce caught a pass from Alex Smith and took it to the Arizona 22-yard line but fumbled the football. Arizona gained possession there and put the game away.

This wasn't your average fumble, though. On the play, Kelce was taken to the ground by safety Deone Bucannon. Bucannon stripped the ball away from Kelce, but it appeared that Kelce still had control of the ball when his back hit the ground.

The Cardinals challenged the ruling, and the play was reversed. Arizona was awarded the recovery and subsequently ran out the majority of the game clock.

Yes, the ball may have moved a little before Kelce was down, but replay also shows him having his hand on the ball with his back on the field. Since there was clear contact on the play, the ground couldn't cause a fumble either. It might be easy to see either side of the argument but hard to believe the evidence was clear enough to reverse the call on the field.

The Cardinals will certainly take the outcome. The Chiefs, who ultimately lost 17-14, can't possibly feel the same way.