Super Bowl and close referee calls: Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles get controversial flags

But by the end of the first quarter of the game, calls ended up favouring both teams, giving both sets of fans something to talk about.

The first questionable call came on the opening drive of the game when the Philadelphia Eagles appeared to convert a fourth-and-2 from midfield with a 32-yard pass from Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown.

But the official immediately threw a flag because Brown shoved cornerback Trent McDuffie’s facemask. While there was some contact, Fox officiating analyst Mike Pereira was quoted by the Associated Press as saying it shouldn’t have led to a flag.

Those kinds of close calls that have tended to go in the Kansas City Chiefs’ favor in recent playoff games have fueled the conspiracy theorists and have been a major topic all week. Commissioner Roger Goodell called the allegations “ridiculous” during a news conference on Monday. The head of the officiating union Scott Green called such notions “insulting.”

The calls balanced out, however, on the Eagles’ next possession as a close call went the way of Hurts’ team. The quarterback threw an incomplete pass to Dallas Goedert on third-and-5 from the Kansas City 42. But the officials once again threw a flag because McDuffie made contact with Goedert’s facemask and Pereira didn’t like that call either.

Three plays later, Hurts scored on a 1-yard run for the first score of the game.

The Eagles got help from another key third-down penalty on their next possession with Charles Omenihu getting called for lining up in the neutral zone, negating a third-down sack that would have forced a punt.

Philadelphia became the first team since at least the 2000 season to convert two third or fourth downs by penalty in the first quarter of a Super Bowl.

Philadelphia Eagles dominant in the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs seemed to crumble in the first half of the Super Bowl 2025 as the Philadelphia Eagles shut off Patrick Mahomes’ throws. Nothing seemed to work for the three-time Super Bowl champion as the Chiefs failed to get going on the offense, drawing a blank.

The Eagles, on the other hand, raced ahead and ended the half with a 24-0 lead. While Hurts had one pass intercepted Mahomes threw two picks. One of them proved the costliest with Cooper DeJean running it all the way home for a pick 6. He also became the first player to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl on his birthday.