NFL Fans Were Furious After Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes Seemed to Talk Refs Out of a Penalty

The Chiefs got on the board early in Monday night's matchup against the Jaguars, but it wasn't without controversy.

Late in the first quarter on a 3rd-and-goal, Patrick Mahomes threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce, who ran into the end zone but immediately reacted to a flag that was thrown on the play. In response to the penalty, several Chiefs players including Mahomes could be seen talking to a pair of refs and pleading their case.

Mahomes was later ushered away from the officials, but the apparent damage was done. The refs initially believed Chiefs' JuJu Smith-Schuster committed an offensive pass interference penalty to free up Kelce on his touchdown, but they changed their call to allow the score.

Mahomes was likely talking to the refs about the "pick rule" in football: within one yard of the line of scrimmage, anything goes, and an offensive player can block a defensive player as much as they want. Beyond that one-yard buffer, an offensive player would be penalized for initiating such contact.

ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk seemed to think the refs got this one wrong: "On that situation, they’re looking at the point of contact. If the contact is more than one yard downfield—it’s not where his feet are—it’s a good call for pass interference.... I thought that would have been a good call for pass interference, I wish they would have stayed with it."

Here's video of that controversial touchdown:

Mahomes and Kelce for 6️⃣ ‼️

🏈 Watch Chiefs-Jaguars on ABC, ESPN and the ESPN App pic.twitter.com/Zr3UpGuxin
— ESPN (@espn) October 7, 2025

Fans were fuming after seeing Mahomes appear to talk his way out of a Chiefs penalty:

Mfs got bullied into picking up a flag https://t.co/RnJ8K37QWw pic.twitter.com/XWrueInDpJ
— sal (@_BetterCallSal) October 7, 2025

That ref just let Mahomes talk him out of offensive PI.

The rules analyst said it was 100% textbook offensive PI.

But they waive the flag and give the chiefs a TD. 🤔
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) October 7, 2025

Patrick Mahomes talking to the officials for no OPI pic.twitter.com/Tr3lE5WIVY
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) October 7, 2025

The Chiefs get called for offensive pass interference, Pat Mahomes whines, and the refs take it off….even though it’s clear as day the block was more than 1 yard downfield. Of course the Chiefs get the call. Only worth 4 extra points pic.twitter.com/EQ76DkOPoF
— CFBBlueprint (@CFBBluePrint) October 7, 2025

Mahomes tells the refs it’s not a flag and the chiefs go up 7. Jags have to get their money up and start paying the refs pic.twitter.com/BKBHJ7waBA
— Nado 🌪️ (@SandblasterSzn) October 7, 2025

*Ref throws flag for blatant offensive pass interference*

Mahomes: “That wasn’t pass interference”

Ref: “Oh okay my bad. Touchdown!”
— Brenden Deeg (@BrendenDeeg_) October 7, 2025