Patriot Pulse

Caitlin Clark and Taylor Swift couldn’t believe what they just saw with their own two eyes

Photo by Larry Koester, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Photo by Larry Koester, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Caitlin Clark and Taylor Swift were two of the names that defined 2024 in the world of sports and entertainment.

2025 picked up where 2024 left off.

And Caitlin Clark and Taylor Swift couldn’t believe what they just saw with their own two eyes.

In an image that broke the internet, Clark and Swift sat together in a luxury box watching the Kansas City Chiefs 23-14 win over the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Playoff round.

That marked Kansas City’s seventh straight appearance in the AFC Championship game.

Swift is dating the Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce and Clark hails from Iowa is a Chiefs fan.

But what the two witnessed that day is a growing crisis in the NFL about the officiating in Kansas City Chiefs games.

All year long, opposing fans complained that the Chiefs got the benefit of the doubt on every call – specifically roughing the passer penalties as fans thought the officials would go out of their way to protect star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The controversy reached a crescendo in the Texans game even ESPN commentator Troy Aikman and rules analyst Russell Yurk called out officials for unfairly flagging the Texans for personal fouls against Mahomes.

Aikman and Yurk took issue with a roughing the passer penalty where the referee flagged a Texan defender for a phantom blow to the head.

“It looked like it was helmet-to-helmet in real-time and — hmmm,” Aikman stated. “It’s close. He definitely comes in high. Hard to tell from that angle if it was, in fact, helmet-to-helmet. But that was the call and it gives them a new set of downs.”

“Based on what you saw, it looked like he did come up high with the helmet but it looked like that first contact was to the upper chest area,” Yurk added. “I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul.”

“I agree with you, Russell,” Aikman replied. “From that angle there, I don’t see helmet-to-helmet at all. That’s a big-time penalty.”

The second foul occurred later in the game.

Throughout the season Mahomes – and other quarterbacks – take advantage of the rule which states that defenders can hit a quarterback once he goes into a feet first slide.

But what Mahomes and other quarterbacks will do is wait until the last possible second to slide, which makes it impossible for defenders to stop their momentum.

Mahomes pulled this stunt in the Texans game and it led to the refs penalizing the Texans on a play where Mahomes slid and the two Texans players barely touched him and really hit each other.

Aikman and Yurk were at their wits end.

“Oh, come on! I mean, he’s a runner. I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit,” Aikman declared. 

“The two Houston players hit each other. That should not have been a foul.” – Russell Yurk “They’ve gotta address it in the offseason…” –

The NFL has a perception problem with the way Chiefs games – and specifically any hit against Mahomes – are officiated.

Ratings are down from last season even though the NFL dwarfs anything else as a television property.

But perceived biased officiating and that the officials won’t allow teams to hit Mahomes could drive even more fans away from the game.

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