Thinking more on that Chiefs/Bengals game, I have a hard time saying the refs decided the game (especially since the debated calls were actually correct, they just missed some the other way).
The Chiefs ultimately had:
more yards
less turnovers
less sacks
better 3rd down efficiency
more 1st downs
less penalties and penalty yards (even before the last ones)
better red zone efficiency
more time of possession
more plays
more yards per play (they even had one less possession)
Basically the only stat the Bengals were better on was rushing yards (they had more yards on less attempts). Perhaps they should have run the ball more. And at the end of the day Burrow had the ball in his hand 2 separate times with a tie game in the 4th quarter and just couldn't get it done (that is also true of Mahomes, but he had the 3rd crack at it and succeeded on that one).
Kind of helps kc get more plays and yards tho if they are having drives continue when obviously holdings are not being called though. I don’t think anyone is claiming the bengals dominated the chiefs. It was just a good matchup and game that people would want to see the natural outcome happen, not one sided reffing. The game should have gone to overtime and almost certainly would have if they called the hold on the chiefs the final drive.
This isn't a shot at you, CC, I just happened to think of this while I was reading your comment ... but I wonder why we even have things like playoffs and title games, given the fact that virtually every game of every season in every sport has questionable or outright-wrong calls. Seems like every winner of every round, including the winner of the title game/series, benefits from some bad calls/noncalls, and thus every team and every fanbase has legitimate gripes at different times. Maybe we should just have a thousand cameras at every game, come up with some software that can determine the correct calls in milliseconds, and thus do away with all the complaining.
I know, of course, why the games are played (entertainment, money), but sometimes I do wonder if all the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing is really worth it, lol (and I'm including myself in that assessment).