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Super Bowl 59 Officiating: Philadelphia Eagles Could Face Major Disadvantage with Ref Selection

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Published03 Feb 2025

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Ron Torbert

The Philadelphia Eagles are getting set to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59 and despite crushing the Washington Commanders 55-23 in the NFC Championship, they could be at a huge disadvantage. The Eagles are coming into the game at 1.5-point underdogs, but this is the disadvantage that can hurt them.

Philadelphia typically strives in an underdog position as they did in 2018 when they won the Super Bowl, but their uphill battle could be much harder than anticipated due to the referee selection. 

This postseason has been riddled with complaints of poor officiating as there have been quite a few controversial calls across games. No team has benefited more from these calls than the Chiefs as there were multiple bad calls in each of their two games in this playoff run.

Chiefs and the Referees

 

Prior to the Bills game, the Chiefs have played 11 post-season games in the 2021 playoff run. During those games, the Chiefs have been called for roughing the passer once, with opponents being flagged seven times. In addition, Chiefs have only had three DPI calls against them, while their opponents stacked up 11. While the Bills totaled more yards from their match against the Chiefs, the Bills also lost every single replay review for close calls during the course of the game.

 

2022 AFC Championship Game Controversy

 

Fans are certainly hoping that the officiating will be better on the biggest stage, but the past could say otherwise. The head referee for the Super Bowl is Ron Torbert in which the Chiefs have a 3-1 record in games he’s officiated. Though he hasn’t refereed a game for Kansas City in two years, the last game he did featured one of the most controversial calls in NFL history. 

This was in the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals as the officials awarded the Chiefs an extra down due to a play clock error. While it sounds like it would make sense, it came after Kansas City fell short of a first down on third down and it would’ve forced a punt. 

Though they ultimately punted in the drive, it took time off the clock and killed momentum for the Bengals. The Chiefs would go on to win this game and beat the Eagles in Super Bowl 57.

 

Super Bowl 59 Officiating Outlook

 

While Torbert didn’t officiate the Super Bowl that they lost to Kansas City, there was a controversial call that all but sealed the victory for the Chiefs. This was a holding call on James Bradberry on third down, which would’ve given Philadelphia just under two minutes to try and tie the game or take the lead assuming Harrison Butker made the field goal. 

While there was minimal contact, the ball was also uncatchable making the call a really poor call that still haunts Eagles fans to this day. Unfortunately, this trend has only gotten worse this season as many fans are noticing these awful calls in favor of the Chiefs. 

Philadelphia should expect to not get many calls going their way and to have to play to beat Kansas City and the refs. One key stat is that the Eagles are undefeated with Tolbert officiating this season, which could give them some hope. Even so, they are going to have to dominate on both ends and get ahead early to keep the officiating’s impact to a minimum.