The Chiefs committed 11 penalties for 120 yards during the loss to the Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
Several of those penalties were on defense and extended Tampa Bay’s drives.
In contrast, the Buccaneers were flagged four times for 39 yards.
Defensive lineman Chris Jones noticed the discrepancy. He said the Chiefs received nine penalties, and the Bucs only had two. While he wasn’t exactly right, he was close on the first-half numbers. Kansas City had eight penalties for 85 yards in the game’s opening 30 minutes. Tampa Bay had only one for five yards.
“I mean, penalties cost the game either way,” Jones said. “Only the referees can call the penalties. So the penalties affect the game 1,000 percent. What can I say? We had a lot of penalties called on us today.”
Jones also felt like the officials were calling the game tighter than they typically would in a championship setting.
“I was very surprised. This is the Super Bowl. Usually you let the guys play, especially in the biggest game of the year,” Jones said. “Penalties can change the game.”
Though some penalties are more consequential than others, the Chiefs lost the Super Bowl by 22 points. And that’s probably outside the margin of error.