Cincinnati Bengals fans probably had a strong sense of deja vu while watching Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs overcome the Houston Texans in the NFL playoffs on Saturday night.
There, Mahomes embellished a few smaller instances of contact and earned whistles from referees.
At this point, that’s probably putting it nicely, too, considering the game’s broadcast called him out for it and the NFL had to come out and defend the flags the next day.
Either way, Bengals fans have known about the issue when it comes to Mahomes and the Chiefs for years, including the infamous late call during Cincinnati’s last trip to the AFC title game.
That dominated some of the global reactions to the Chiefs’ win on Saturday:
The Bengals lost an AFC championship because of this exact move from Mahomes. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/imvyeLI4up
— WHO DEY est. 2000 (@dpainclain) January 18, 2025
Who remembers the early season bailout the Chiefs had against the Bengals on 4th and forever that changed the ENTIRE course of the season?
Bengals would have been in the playoffs btw.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) January 18, 2025
Mahomes is pathetic. I’ll say it. Football fans will generally hate the flopping in soccer, except for a certain team’s fans who will cheer this on.
I’m telling you right now, hold me to it, if Joe Burrow ever stopped being a real competitor and started flopping and crying in… https://t.co/NVjlLZ2Ihr
— 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 (@BengalsCaptain) January 19, 2025
I wish someone like Ray Lewis was still in the league
He would put Mahomes in his place pic.twitter.com/Mv9Pw2nZUJ
— Bengals Graphics (@BengalsGraphic5) January 19, 2025
Somebody needs to do a side by side comparison of the hits Burrow took this season with no penalties
penalties called for Mahomes all year. I’d guess the clips would be staggering #NFL #Bengals https://t.co/jDmdQQWfoz
— Matt Ross (@MattRossKY) January 18, 2025