Fans want reporter fired after inappropriate questions to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce – “This is absolutely ridiculous”
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are about to begin preparations for their most important game yet: Super Bowl LIX, with a historic hat-trick on the line. While most of the questions during Monday’s presser were nothing out of the ordinary, one reporter incited outrage with some incredibly biased ones.
Rich Shertenlieb, a Boston-based radio host whose eponymous 100.7 WZLX show was cancelled by iHeartMedia in November 2024 amidst budget cuts, asked the two Kansas City Chiefs stars about the “biased” officiating during games in such a manner that Mahomes and Kelce tried to use humor to hide their annoyance:
Shetenlieb’s choice of questions infuriated the NFL fandom, with one tweeting:
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“This is absolutely ridiculous. The people asking these questions should be banned from all NFL media”
More of the outrage can be seen below:
“Such BS. Reporter should be kicked out,” one demanded.
“Bruh Pat is such a good media person. Like why tf yall asking him dumbass questions,” another asked.
“Absolutely embarrassing. Regardless of how fans feel…how do media members get passes on this stuff?” another wondered.
In defense of himself, Shertenlieb posted:
Data shows that referees aren’t helping Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce lead Chiefs to Super Bowl
To dispel the notion that the Chiefs are being helped to the Super Bowl by biased officials, football statistician Ryan Heath made a table a few weeks ago that calculated every NFL team’s win probability added from penalties since 2023. In it, the Minnesota Vikings lead the league at 3.54% win probability, sizably ahead of the Dallas Cowboys at 3.21%.
Defending back-to-back Super Bowl champions Chiefs, though, sit just outside the top 10 at 2.43%. The Buffalo Bills, their opponents in the AFC Championship game, were .03 percentage points higher.
In terms of expected points added (EPA) via penalties, the notion starts crumbling even more significantly, as Patrick Mahomes and Co. aren’t even in the top half. Instead, they are in the bottom quarter at 78.76. EPA. Once again, the Vikings and Cowboys lead the league at 137.60 and 126.38 respectively.
That’s counting only the penalties that meant a first down. When accounting for miscellaneous factors, the Cheifs are just in the top-10 in win probability, at 5.50%. A to Z Sports’ Travis May summarized it:
“The penalties are not why the Chiefs are winning, and they’re not benefiting from them at a rate that is worth complaining about at all.”
Kickoff for Super Bowl LIX is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
