The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions may have been the two teams playing on Thursday night, but NFL fans remained focused on members of another roster. After watching a referee get injured, they expressed "concern" about the Kansas City Chiefs.
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The play took place when Packers defensive lineman Kingsley Enagbare left the field. He moved sideways to avoid Lukas Van Ness but ran into referee Carl Johnson. The referee grabbed his shoulder and then ultimately went to the ground. He received attention from a training staff before heading to the locker room.
The injuries are beginning to pile up for the Chiefs pic.twitter.com/yofXUuG2fJ
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) December 6, 2024
"Two of the Chiefs' best players have suffered significant injuries over the last couple weeks," one person posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. This post also referenced umpire Carl Paganelli, who was carted off the field with a leg injury during last weekend's Panthers-Buccaneers game.
Some other people weighed in on social media and expressed hope that both officials would make a healthy return to the roster. However, they clarified that they wanted this return to take place after the Super Bowl.
As expected, most Chiefs fans responding on social media did not appreciate the posts about the referees. Some said they were tired of the narrative that the referees are on the Kansas City roster. Others took a different angle and joined in on the fun.
As a Chiefs fan, it’s so difficult to watch one of your own go down. Prayers up. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/S5EecGPRvC
— Lexi (@lexiosborne) December 6, 2024
"Haven't we suffered enough? How many more injuries can we sustain," another Chiefs fan joked on Thursday night while watching the Lions defeat the Packers.
The fascinating part about this conversation is the effect it had on X. So many people posted about the injury that the Grok summary of trending posts feature had the label "Chiefs' Injury Woes Continue Amidst Playoff Push."
Are the officials biased toward the Chiefs? Many NFL fans believe so, but some players view the situation differently. For example, former Colts defensive back Darius Butler simply provided comparisons to another Super Bowl-winning team and the penalties that favored it.
"All eyes is on the Chiefs' games," Butler explained during the Sept. 16 episode of the "Pat McAfee Show." This conversation followed a game between the Bengals and the Chiefs featuring a late penalty that favored the Chiefs.
"So the whole nation is going to see when it's a call, maybe a ticky-tack call that goes (the Chiefs') way," Butler continued. "...But ultimately, people hate greatness. Some people love it if you're rooting for them and some people hate it.
"...We heard all of the same things for two decades when it was the Patriots and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. So, nothing new."
