Kansas City Chiefs during offensive play in Super Bowl.
Football fans are accusing the refs of “rigging” Super Bowl 58 after missing a clear penalty against the Kansas City Chiefs during a crucial play.

On the opening drive of overtime, Jake Moody kicked a field goal to put the San Francisco 49ers up by three. With that, Kyle Shanahan’s squad needed just one more stop on defense to secure the Lombardi Trophy.

 

Facing a 3rd-and-6 situation at their own 46-yard line, Patrick Mahomes found Rashee Rice for a pivotal 13-yard gain. Six plays later, Mahomes threw the game-winning touchdown to Mecole Hardman to secure the repeat.

But as you can see in the videos and images below, Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon got away with what looked like an obvious hold on 49ers linebacker Fred Warner during the 3rd-and-6 play:

 

And unsurprisingly, these posts led to more calls from fans that Super bowl 58 was rigged in favor of Mahomes’ Chiefs:

Whether fans like it or not, referee Bill Vinovich and his crew essentially “let them play” throughout the game. Each team was penalized six times (49ers for 40 yards, Chiefs for 55), and it was hard to dispute any of the fouls that were actually called.

It’s easy to blame the refs, but at the end of the day, it was just another case of Patrick Mahomes magic with the game on the line.