Before the Chiefs and Texans kicked off the 2020 NFL season in their Week 1 game in Kansas City, and in front of thousands of fans who were allowed into Arrowhead Stadium to watch the defending Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs and Texans locked arms in the middle of the field in a show of unity.
The sound that appeared to came out from the broadcast was that of boos from the crowd during what was supposed to be a moment of silence.
Texans star J.J. Watt called the booing “unfortunate.” But Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes didn’t hear them on the field during the show of unity:
Patrick Mahomes said he did not notice the boos on the field but saw the videos afterwards: "We wanted to show unity. … I hope our fans will support us like they do in the game."
— Sam McDowell (@SamMcDowell11) September 11, 2020
The same went for Texans head coach Bill O’Brien:
Bill O’Brien said he didn’t really hear any boos during the act of unity at midfield pregame. He said that was put together by Mahomes and Watson. He took a guess and said maybe fans were booing them because they just came on the field.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) September 11, 2020
But here’s a video from the stands. You can clearly hear a booing noise:
Real video says more just saying pic.twitter.com/vkE19VfajN
— Josh Stockman (@darkkightinMO) September 11, 2020
There are some fans claiming it was a response to someone yelling “Trump 2020” into a hot mic:
#ChiefsKingdom didn’t boo this display of unity. Here’s the audio. They booed when someone yelled “Trump 2020” near a hot mic. @Chiefs @PatrickMahomes #HOUvsKC #NFLKickoff pic.twitter.com/S7ROE78tEO
— Ninja MF Poet 🇺🇸💪🏽 (@njapoet) September 11, 2020
If that’s the case, at the very least it was booing coming from the crowd and not, as some fans claimed, shouts of “Chieeeeefs” (and if THAT was the case, it was very much the wrong time to root on the home team).
It’s a little confusing from all angles. If it was booing, as Watt said, why boo? If it was cheering for the Chiefs, why do it then? The video from the stands doesn’t definitively reveal what was being yelled by fans and why.
The video from the stands does have one silver lining, it shows that some fans at least tried to embrace the moment of unity before they got drowned out.
