In 15 years, people won’t talk about this call when they bring up this Super Bowl.

But they should.

It just feels like the Chiefs always get the calls in those “you just can’t throw a flag there, in that moment” moments.

It was ticky-tack, weak, soft, bullshit, rigged–whatever you want to call it. It was terrible.

The Chiefs were stopped, they would have had to kick a field goal, and then Philly would have had about 1:45 or something (I don’t feel like looking it up) to drive down the field and either kick a game-tying field goal or score a game-winning touchdown.

You cannot throw a flag in that moment. You have to let them play. You cannot decide a Super Bowl on a ticky-tack call like that.

And on Juju Smith-Schuster of all people!

I mean, damn, man. Juju gets that call?

JUJU!? Tik Tok boy?

Unconscionable.

I don’t think the NFL is rigged. I wrote a long-ass article explaining why it’s not rigged.

But that play felt rigged.

And in general, it just feels like the Chiefs always get those calls late in games. I was waiting all game for it to happen: Chiefs get a fresh set of downs late in the game in a crucial moment due to a questionable flag. Like fucking clockwork.

I also don’t understand how the Devonta Smith catch late in the first half was overturned. Even Mike Pereira, who pretty much always takes the side of the refs, disagreed with overturning it. That probably cost the Eagles 4 points.

Look, Philly made some mistakes. Obviously the fumble TD by Jalen Hurts was incredibly costly. Philly would’ve been up 24-7 at halftime without it.

But Philly’s defense didn’t show up in the second half of the game. Maybe they thought it was going to be a cakewalk after Mahomes got hurt, or maybe it was just that Andy Reid started dialing up some of the best plays we’ve ever seen (the touchdown to Kadarius Toney was pure genius). Maybe it was a bit of both.

I do know that the vaunted Eagles pass rush had zero sacks in the game and the secondary kind of got torched. They were playing well in the first half, but didn’t show up in the second half.

The huge punt return by Toney was a huge momentum swing in the game and wound up being a major blunder by the Eagles special teams.

But damn, man. I really don’t want to hear about any of that stuff. The game came down to the very end, the Eagles had the Chiefs stopped and a field goal forced, and the refs ruined the damn game.

If Philly fails on their attempt to tie or win the game, so be it. We can all live with that, and it would have gone down as one of the great Super Bowls ever.

Instead the refs robbed us of that.

People on Twitter are saying this is Mahomes’ “Tuck Rule moment,” like when Brady got bailed out in the 2001 playoffs.

I don’t know about that. With the Tuck Rule, had the fumble actually stood, the Patriots would have lost that game. They were losing it 13-10 with under 2 minutes to go. It was over, they were going home.

With this game, the score was still tied, and the Chiefs would have kicked a field goal to go up 38-35. So I don’t know if it was quite as egregious and asterisk-warranting as the Tuck Rule was. I mean the Patriots should have lost that game and never would have won the 2001 Super Bowl without the Tuck Rule. The Tuck Rule is undoubtedly worse just on the, “You won a Super Bowl that you absolutely should not have won” scale.

But not by much.

Also, one last thing, and this is for Sean McDermott: ANDY REID CALLED FOR A SQUIB KICK ON THE KICKOFF WHEN THERE WERE 8 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME.

Did you see that, Sean McDermott, you stupid, stupid man?

Took 4 seconds off the clock and the Eagles only had one play to work with.

I’m referencing the Chiefs vs. Bills divisional round game where the Bills took a 3 point lead with 13 seconds left in the game, chose not to squib kick and instead booted it deep for a touchback, gave the Chiefs the ball at the 25, and they were able to get into field goal range in just 13 seconds to kick a game-tying field goal, and then went on to win the game in OT.

Situational football. Good coaching vs. bad coaching.

Good coach Andy Reid squibbed it, bad coach Sean McDermott kicked it deep.

If Andy Reid does in fact retire after this game, that’s a huge loss for the Chiefs. That man was in his bag in the second half of this game. He was the real MVP of this game. I’ve got to give him credit here for scheming up such great plays over and over.

Chiefs better hope he sticks around as long as he can, because he’s an all-time great.