In week 4, of the 2023 NFL season, on primetime Sunday Night Football,  the New York Jets have been robbed of an upset win over the reigning champs the Chiefs. The Jets were down early, it looked hopeless, but then, our lord and savior, Zachery Wilson was COOKING. The Jets came back, it was about to be half time the Jets were down 20-12. There was something in the air that was wanting the Chiefs and Taylor Swift to win. Everything was going the chief’s way, even the calls. The refs were clearly favoring the Chiefs in this game. The calls on the Chiefs last drive of the game were diabolical: the missed holding call, the holding call on Sauce Gardner, and many more. The Jets defense was electric and every time they would get a stop to get the offense on the field, the refs would find a way to kill the momentum. The Jets ended up losing the ball game 23-20.. The Chiefs and Taylor Swift are ruining football because the refs are being biased towards them, and all they care about during the games is Swift.

One way the Chefs were cheating in the game were the refs calls, as they were clearly favoring the Chiefs.  The first missed call was in the 4th quarter with 11 and a half minutes, on a crucial 3 and 9. If this was called intentional grounding, the Chiefs would have to kick a field goal, leaving the Jets plenty of time to come back. This would have changed the momentum of the game, as the Jets quarterback, Zack Wilson was proving all the haters wrong by playing his best game ever. This play was not even up to discussion. Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback, was clearly in the passer box, and while being sacked, threw a pass to no one to avoid the sack. This would have made a much harder field goal for Harrison Butker, the Chiefs kicker, who already missed a 40 yarder in this game. Instead the refs decided to call it not intentional ground and give the Chiefs another chance. Harrison Butker then ended up with a 26-yard field goal instead of a 45-yard field goal. He drilled it down the middle and put the Chiefs up by three.

Another missed call in this game was a very blatant holding call right in front of the referee which led to a first down. Jermaine Johnson, the Jets linebacker, was lined up on the line of scrimmage for this play and was behind held. He couldn’t move and was trying to show the referees he couldn’t move. It was a 3 and 22 for the Chiefs in Jets territory, and Patrick Mahomes was able to run 25 yards to get the first down because of the hold. The refs threw a penalty, and every Jets fan was relieved. Until unfortunately, the refs called the penalty on the Jets and kept the first down for the Chiefs. This then let the Chiefs run out the clock and win the ball game against the Jets. Also, there was a play where Patrick Mahomes panicked and threw the ball up. The Jets intercepted the ball and a couple seconds later there was a flag thrown and a penalty called holding on Sauce Gardner the Jets CB. After the game, Sauce stated, “That’s like when you play basketball one on one and you go up to lay the ball, and you wait to see you miss and then say foul.”

As a solution to this problem, I think that the NFL could stop showing Taylor Swift on camera during Jets games. This would allow the referees to make the right calls, and the NFL social media can stop just posting Swift because then it makes calls even more suspicious for opposing teams and fanbases.

While some might say it is really exciting to have Swift at the games, and she is helping the NFL she has nothing to do with the game. The final way the Chiefs cheated was the next game they were faced up against the Vikings and all the hype was on the Chiefs because they have Taylor Swift in the stands watching them every game. It was a big play in the game where Kirk Cousins threw the ball up to his wide receiver  Jordan Addison where it was clear there was holding on the Chiefs. There was a flag thrown and the Vikings started celebrating. The refs circled up and had a talk and then picked up the flag and said there was no penalty on the play. Also right after the play the Chiefs player that held Jordan Addison took off his helmet on the field and went to go talk to the refs which is another penalty that wasn’t called.

After the game, the Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was very upset with the no call but had to stay calm to avoid a fine. O’Connell said, “I clearly, when the flag came out in the first place, was not surprised in that moment that that was called a flag. You know, I guess trying to figure out where and when that veered the other way. But that was very unfortunate, as well as you know, the scenario there where not every player on the field had their helmet on, either.”

This shows he was very upset with this no-call and two other calls where the Vikings challenged that should have clearly been overturned. This led the Vikings to lose two of their three second-half timeouts with a whole two quarters left to play.

While some might argue that Taylor Swift is bringing a positive note to football and bringing more fans, it is causing the referees and NFL to favor the Chiefs.  Swift keeps coming to games, and the NFL keeps making money off of her for the league. Every Sunday football game averages about 23 million views, and most of these viewers couldn’t care less about Taylor Swift being at the game. They just want to see the game officiated right and enjoy Sunday Night football.