It's hard to find fault with NFL nice guy and overachiever Patrick Mahomes. But sometimes even the school valedictorian deserves to get sent to the principal's office, and yesterday was one of those times. In his and Chiefs' coach Andy Reid's uncharacteristically petty, excuse-riddled response to an unfortunate but obvious penalty call late in their game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Mahomes and Reid failed to take into account their team's recent history, and just how much they actually owe to the officials for being on the benefitting end of game-changing penalty calls.

After a classy post-game press conference last weekend, in which Mahomes didn't fault the refs for a no-call for pass interference against Marquez Valdes-Scantling late in their game against the Packers, he immediately undid that goodwill in his post-game press conference on Sunday after the Bills game.

Mahomes said “every week we're talking about something” related to the refs, suddenly reversing course and deciding that last week's loss was indeed due to the no-call. He also implied this loss to the Bills was due to the officials calling back a touchdown pass as a result of an offensive offsides penalty flag against Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney that Mahomes even admitted was probably the right call.

Mahomes also said it was “elementary school” stuff to not be given a warning that Toney was offsides before the play. But, playing devil's advocate for a second, doesn't the ref needing to tell you that you're lined up offsides before a play sound more like elementary school stuff than a professional NFL receiver just figuring that out for himself?

Regardless, Mahomes' basic point was that officiating shouldn't decide close games, the players should. But in making that declaration, Mahomes is failing to take under consideration the fact that last season's AFC Championship Game, as well as the Super Bowl, both largely hinged on two crucial game-sealing penalty calls that both went in favor of the Chiefs late in each contest.

In the AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals, Joseph Ossai's late hit penalty put the Chiefs in field goal range with mere seconds on the clock. The penalty was blatant and the correct call, but if Mahomes really wants to “see the guys on the field decide the game” like he is now calling for at the end of close games, that particular battle may have gone to overtime.

Even more controversial, the call against the Eagles for defensive holding late in the Super Bowl, which allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock and set up for an easy game-winning field goal, was anything but clear-cut for most fans outside of the Kansas City area. Eagles cornerback James Bradberry admitted after the game that he committed holding, but was hoping the refs would let it go. It was a hold, but just barely warranted a flag, and easily could have been a no-call — which would have allowed Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to get the ball back with a chance to win the game.

So to hear Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid complain about two instances this season in which two crucial officiating calls didn't go in the Chiefs' favor, doesn't feel so much like unfairness as it does a regression to the mean. Sometimes you get the calls, sometimes you don't.

If I was a Chiefs fan, I'd rather get calls in the playoffs than the regular season anyway.

Speaking of, it's also possible to view Mahomes' and Reid's post-game reactions and responses to the officiating as playing the long game with an eye toward the playoffs. An ominous warning to the refs that this better not happen again, when games really count. The suddenly offensively resurgent Bills could very well still make the playoffs, and come in hot, and if so are probably bound to play the Chiefs again in the post-season.

You can bet all of upstate New York is worried about the Chiefs being on the receiving end of some hometown officiating in their next matchup after this one. Then again, I haven't even mentioned the Chiefs' best stroke of luck in recent memory — winning the coin flip at the start of overtime in the epic Bills-Chiefs 2021 AFC Divisional playoff game, which allowed Mahomes and the Chiefs to win that game before Josh Allen and the Bills even had a chance to touch the ball in overtime.

That gift was deemed so fortunate for the Chiefs that the NFL rules were changed for the better the following season, to allow both teams to get the ball in overtime in the playoffs, even in the event of an opening touchdown scoring drive.

Bottom line, Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the rest of the Chiefs are totally in the wrong to complain about a legitimate penalty call from Sunday's game, and it's not a good look for them as two-time defending Super Bowl champions. They should realize how often fortune has fallen in their favor before they gripe about the calls they don't get. And if that doesn't work, they should just look up to the box suites at that special person so good at reminding us when we're acting too loud and need to calm down, because they've already won the biggest prize of all — claiming Taylor Swift as a fan.