Fans were all treated to two fantastic conference title games Sunday. However, with a two-week wait until the Super Bowl and the astoundingly close outcomes of both games on Sunday, most of this week will be spent talking about the teams who fell just short of the Super Bowl.

Sympathy is almost too strong a word, but that is exactly what the Saints and Chiefs have been getting a lot of from fans and media alike. People are worked up over the fact that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs high-powered offense never saw the ball in overtime as well as a missed call that kept the Rams alive in the Superdome. As cold as it sounds, neither team or fanbase deserves any sympathy and no rule changes should be made. When looking at each case separately, it becomes abundantly clear that both of Sunday’s losers got exactly what they deserved.

Chiefs:

First off, Kansas City was fortunate to even get the game to overtime. New England had double the first downs of the Chiefs. The Patriots also had over 500 yards of total offense. Kansas City came in at under 300 total yards, despite a season average of 425.6.

There are two things anyone pulling for the Chiefs should be mad at, neither involve the overtime rules. Anyone suddenly politicking for changing them should also keep these things in mind.

Dee Ford is a fantastic pass rusher who got to opposing quarterbacks 13 times during the regular season, but the soon to be free agent lined up offside negating a play that turned out to be an interception of Tom Brady that would have put the Chiefs in kneel-down mode with about a minute left. The most basic of errors committed in the most critical of spots. Miami Miracle aside, that never happens to New England. That is why the Patriots are going to yet another Super Bowl and why the Chiefs have not been there since the 1960s.

Photo: larrybrownsports.com

The other school of thought is simple. Kansas City’s defense stinks. It has all year long. They ranked second to last in total defense. Contrary to the thinking of a vocal minority of NFL fans, New England cannot rig a coin flip, once that went the way it did, that defense had to keep Brady’s bunch out of the endzone. Despite creating three separate third and long situations, they could not do it. That is why Mahomes never saw the ball in overtime, not the rules. Even against bad teams like Denver and Oakland, the Chiefs defense played with fire all year long, they finally got burned.

Saints:

Nickell Robey-Coleman absolutely should have been called for pass interference with less than two minutes left which would have allowed New Orleans to further bleed the clock before going ahead and tacking on a game-winning field goal or touchdown. The league office and Colman himself have admitted as much.

However, why was Sean Payton throwing the ball in a tie game with less than two minutes left? His team was already in field goal range and the opponent only had one timeout. The cop-out answer in the modern NFL is something like “I’m trying to be aggressive”. However, there is a fine line between being aggressive and being stupid. Payton was being stupid and paid for it.

Also, under no circumstances should pass interference ever be made reviewable by replay. Even though this particular instance seemed to be black and white, pass interference rarely is that way. Games take three and a half hours already, the last thing we need is to make the most subjective call in the sport susceptible to change via super slow-motion replay.

Lastly, Brees and the Saints offense got the ball to start the extra period. They are more than capable of doing what New England did which would have made the no-call irrelevant. Brees turned it over.
Refs miss calls and the rules are fine. Every NFL fan and media member needs to stop complaining and rejoice in the fact that the two best and most deserving teams will play for the ultimate prize.

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