The Kansas City Chiefs had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC Playoffs entering their final regular season game against the Denver Broncos. As a result, they had no interest in playing a competitive game on Sunday. And not everyone was happy about it.
Since the result of game was essentially meaningless for Kansas City, the Chiefs played without Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and many other starters, protecting them from injury and giving them some valuable rest heading into the postseason.
As a result of the decision to rest all of their starters, the Broncos absolutely blasted the Chiefs, winning the game by a score of 38-0.
While it’s understandable that the team would want to rest their starters and protect them from injury, it did have some major implications for other teams.
The Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins both needed a loss from the Broncos in order to make the playoffs, but with the Chiefs resting their starters, that was never a possibility.
Needless to say, this move sparked outrage from a lot of fans on social media, who called them out for what they thought was a classless move.
“Chiefs laying down like a dog to let a division rival coast into the playoffs… unseemly behavior. I hope they meet the fate they deserve in the playoffs,” one fan wrote on X.
“The Kansas City Chiefs are an extremely unlikeable franchise. This no-show in a game that matters to multiple teams is another thing for the pile. Ponder it during the next stream of continual bad Patrick Mahomes commercials,” someone else said.
“A statement loss here. One should never question the integrity of a team, but we’re talking about the Chiefs here, so all bets are off. This team has no honor,” another fan added.
“This is a massively pathetic performance from KC. I get it’s 1’s vs 2’s. But these guys are champions. Playing like chumps,” someone else said.
“The Chiefs are garbage. Pray they get bounced in their first game in the playoffs. They obviously tanked this game,” one fan added.
“The one game America wanted the Chiefs to win they get blown out. This is the most unlikable team of all time,” one fan said.
Clearly, fans were not all that happy with the move.
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