The numbers don’t back up any kind of Kansas City Chiefs “fatigue,” but that hasn’t stopped sports media from spinning it into a news cycle heading into the team’s third straight Super Bowl appearance. That includes FS1 commentator Chris Broussard, who weighed in this week by pointing out one polarizing element of this Chiefs team that could have drummed up animosity — but instead went under the radar.
After a debate on First Things First over whether the perception of referee bias toward Kansas City has made the team into “villains” on their push for a three-peat, Broussard reminded fans of how quickly they forgot about how politics intersected with this Chiefs team just last year.
In September, Brittany Mahomes, wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, liked a post from Donald Trump on Instagram. After internet sleuths noticed, the former and current president thanked her in a subsequent post.
“We know we live in a completely polarized society as far as politics,” Broussard said. “When Mahomes’ family, his wife, supported Trump, that was a reason half the country could have really jumped on Mahomes and Kansas City … and gone at them. I didn’t see that happen for the most part. That was a reason that a lot of people could have been like, ‘see that’s why I hate the Chiefs.’ And you didn’t get that. I think you didn’t get it because Mahomes is so great that people let him go.”
That wasn’t the end of the Brittany Mahomes-Trump saga. The president used Mahomes’ name directly to mock Taylor Swift after the pop star endorsed his opponent, Kamala Harris. Soon after, Brittany Mahomes shared another post on Instagram calling for kindness and positivity, which many read as a response to Trump.
Without getting too deep in the mess of internet political drama, Broussard is right-on that the controversy was ripe for Chiefs hate. If you are a football fan tired of seeing Kansas City win, the wife of the star quarterback getting into it with Trump and Swift presents the perfect opportunity to launch into action.
The fact that it did not affect the overall popularity or intrigue around the Chiefs as a football team is a great argument that people do not actually hate the team.
That’s not to mention Travis Kelce’s relationship with the outspoken Swift. Beyond that, you also don’t have to go back very far to recall kicker Harrison Butker’s convocation speech at Benedictine College, in which he advocated for conservative family values — and was ridiculed far and wide.
Kansas City is not a quiet, anodyne team. The team is full of outspoken celebrities.
As Broussard notes, they survived all these news cycles and still popped out into February with record AFC Championship ratings and mostly positive momentum toward a three-peat.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.