Free speech, as it turns out, ain’t free.
The NFL has fined both Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for criticizing officials after Sunday’s loss to the Bills.
“It’s tough to swallow,” Mahomes said after the game, which featured a correct offensive offside call that wiped out a go-ahead touchdown on an unplanned catch-and-lateral. “Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis [Kelce] to make a play like that, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game. They’re human. They make mistakes. But every week, we’re talking about something. . . . It’s the call. Just in that moment. Not for myself. To have a flag change the outcome of the game. I’ve never had offensive offsides called. If it does, they warn you. There wasn’t a warning the entire game. And then you make a call like that in the final minute? Another game, we’re talking about the refs. It’s not what we want for the NFL. It’s not what we want for football.”
Said Reid after the game: “Usually I get a warning before something like that happens. A bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place. . . . I didn’t have a protractor out there, but a bit embarrassing.”
On the play in question, receiver Kadarius Toney was clearly offside. The only plausible complaint would be that he was lined up offside throughout the game, and the officials said and did nothing until the game was on the line. That definitely invites suspicion from the tinfoil-hat crowd.
Regardless, he was indeed offside. And the league has fined both Reid and Mahomes for their comments.
We’ve asked the league for the specific standard that applies to fines for coaches and for players. In the past, the NFL had said that players will be fined only when their comments attack the integrity of the officials. Mahomes did not seem to do that.
UPDATE 4:43 p.m. ET: The NFL announced that Reid has been fined $100,000 and Mahomes has been fined for $50,000.
