My prediction for a Ravens-Eagles Super Bowl, published on this very site less than two weeks ago, is toast. It was a false vision of a far preferable matchup.
Instead, this timeline—as always—is the worst timeline. I have seen the light: The Kansas City Chiefs are going to win Super Bowl LIX. Because of course they are
Tried to pull back and it didn’t matter, hit him with roughing anyway #CLEvsBAL pic.twitter.com/NOyhYn1pEc
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) January 4, 2025
The Chiefs seemed wobbly, if not downright fraudulent, all season. They had the third-best point differential in their own division! Even if that margin was dented by resting their starters in Week 18 and losing 38-0, those 15 wins would have more than made up for it if they didn’t all come by the skin of their teeth.
But once I saw the Chiefs beat the Texans 23-14 in the divisional round (improving to 7-0 in games officiated by Clay Martin), I understood why none of that mattered.
When Troy Aikman—an ex-quarterback who suffered 10 concussions in his playing career—is saying that refs are protecting Patrick Mahomes too much, you know there’s a deep-seated problem here.
Now, the head referee for the Super Bowl will be Ron Torbert, and he’s no Martin: The Chiefs are apparently 5-5 when Torbert is their ref. But you can toss that record out when Kansas City is losing by four; it’s third-and-8, and Mahomes gets lightly taken to the ground on an incomplete pass.
All those fans booing in the stadium? All those Swifties on social media, starting to look up where you live? You know his hand will twitch once or twice and then start to reach for his flag, as though possessed by something deep in his subconscious. It doesn’t have to be part of some grander league-rigging conspiracy to acknowledge that referees have been overly deferential to this team.
There’s also the matter of Travis Kelce. He spent last offseason filming “Grotesquerie,” “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” and at least 90 commercials, and lo and behold he was invisible for most of the regular season. Maybe he tanked your fiancé’s fantasy football team. I’m not speaking from personal experience or anything.
Well, after spending four months warming up, Kelce had his best showing of the season in the divisional round with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. He’s back, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
You can rattle off any stat you’d like about the Bills, Eagles or Commanders, and it wouldn’t sway me. We’re destined for another year of noxious discourse about how Josh Allen (and Lamar Jackson) just can’t win the big one. Another year of scalding takes about Jalen Hurts’ and Nick Sirianni’s shortcomings.
The Kansas City Chiefs are going to win their third consecutive Super Bowl. It won’t feel like a milestone in NFL history, and the celebrations will be confined to Kansas and Missouri. But the world will continue to turn and we’ll continue to consume this monotonous league, dreaming once again of next year.
