Curious Officiating Move Haunts Kansas City Chiefs Victory Over Buffalo Bills

Ultimately, Sean McDermott said late Sunday night, the game is decided by inches. And it sounds trite and cliché, but not to a Buffalo Bills coach feeling the sting of falling inches short in the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

"We're thankful for the success that we had this year," McDermott said after his team's loss. "It hurts because when you come up short of a Super Bowl, or winning a Super Bowl, it hurts. But the games come down to inches."

No truer statement was uttered about this championship game. But the statement requires context because sometimes inches are measured one way by one official.

And sometimes inches are measured a different way by another official.

Even when both officials are measuring the same inches on the same play.

Controversial Call Favors Chiefs

That is precisely what happened in this game at a crucial time. And it was curious. And potentially game-deciding. And ultimately, controversial.

The play in question came in the first minute of the fourth quarter with the Bills leading 22-21 and seemingly marching for another score to extend their lead.

Well, the Bills faced a fourth-and-1 situation at the Chiefs' 41 yard line. So, the Bills put the ball in the hands of 6-foot-5 and 248 pound quarterback Josh Allen to tush-push his way to a first down.

And it seemed to work.

And it also seemed to fail.

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Different Calls From Different Officials

And the reason we didn't immediately know for sure is that the officials seemingly disagreed about it. Ultimately, the side judge running in from the Chiefs sideline prevailed and called the fourth-down attempt short, even though the other side judge thought the Bills got the first down.

Now, to understand the ramifications here, the Chiefs trailed by a point and the Bills were driving and had they scored, the home team would have been looking down the barrel of a potential loss.

But by marking it short of the line to gain, officials basically made a replay nearly impossible to overturn the call because there were a lot of huge bodies piled one atop the other. Clear evidence to overturn the call was nearly impossible to show.

So the Chiefs got the call and the ball.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - JANUARY 26: Head coach Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills looks on during the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 26, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.  (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)

Sean McDermott Doesn't Agree

But the Bills disagree about that.

"The look we had in the stadium, which I don't know for sure because they have a mixed look in the stadium, if it's the same feed the TV had or not, I thought [Allen] had it," McDermott said. "Just short of the line was actually the first down. What looked like to me when it was sitting to me with the marker, just short of the white stripe, was the first down -- and it looked like he got to it.

"That's all I can say."

Huge call. Huge play. 

And it feeds into the narrative that the Chiefs get calls in key moments. That narrative was fed last week in a divisional round victory over the Houston Texans. And it is something the NFL may have tried to address in selecting the officiating crew for this game.

That's because all these calls help determine the outcome of games.

"Of course it does," McDermott said. "You're darn right it does. I mean that's a possession. We're up one point, I believe, at the time, with a chance to go up maybe multiple scores at that point. That's a big call.

"That's a really big call."