Heading into the AFC Championship Game, plenty of Chiefs fans were melting down over the Super Bowl officiating assignment — a game they hadn’t even reached yet. Well, if the NFL was operating under some anti-Chiefs bias, they sure hid it well in Sunday’s game against the Bengals.

In the second half, especially, the Bengals sideline was in a state of disbelief when the Chiefs were given a mulligan on a third-down play because an official tried to stop play before the snap. On that do-over third down, the Chiefs ended up getting the first down by virtue of a penalty.

While the whole sequence didn’t make much of a difference as the Chiefs punted, it represented a trend of strange calls going against the Bengals all half.

Chiefs get a do over on 3rd down because the ref stopped the play, why did he stop it? pic.twitter.com/Xvt129Nscj

— Ted Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) January 30, 2023

“Gene, sort this out.” pic.twitter.com/WpIRNoM9ao

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 30, 2023

There was also a weak pass interference call against Mike Hilton that extended a Chiefs drive.

Agree with the Pass Interference call on Mike Hilton? pic.twitter.com/dyo5uF3PXw

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 30, 2023

The Chiefs didn’t even need to score off of any of these calls to have fans furious. The officiating left a lot to be desired.