Overtime at Arrowhead was supposed to end when Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Nohl Williams punched the ball out of Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Laquon Treadwell’s arms. The football bounced across the turf, and fellow cornerback L’Jarius Sneed jumped on it. The home sideline erupted in celebration of a turnover. But as the replay officials stopped the play to review whether Treadwell was down by contact, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes found himself quietly hoping for an outcome almost unheard of for a franchise quarterback.

He wanted the officials to give Indianapolis the ball back! This is because he knew exactly what would follow if they ruled it a fumble, and he wanted no part of it.

“The big play in overtime where we think we stripped the ball and they end up being barely touched,” Mahomes said after that 33-30 OT win. “I was actually kind of glad because I didn’t want to see Twitter’s reaction if they would have called it a fumble.”

The sequence unfolded midway through overtime, with the Chiefs holding a 30-27 lead. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones lofted a deep pass to Treadwell from their own 35-yard line, and Treadwell turned it into a 48-yard completion into the Chiefs’ territory.

As Treadwell tried to control the ball, Williams reached in to jar it loose. Replay officials in New York determined that Williams had only grazed Treadwell’s hip while the receiver had possession, and Treadwell’s knee touched the grass – ending the play – a fraction of a second before the ball came out. The reversal placed Indy at the Chiefs’ 17-yard line. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid watched the same monitors from the sideline, and came away with a different conclusion than the officiating crew.

“That was hard for me to tell,” Reid said. “I mean, I saw all the replays. I mean, I would have voted against it, going the other way… It’s America, and I don’t have a vote.”

That call gave Indianapolis an immediate chance to punch in a game-winning touchdown. Instead, Chiefs’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit clamped down, forcing two stuffed runs and a 5-yard scramble by Jones on third down. Facing 4th & 8 from the 15-yard line, the Colts got slapped with a 5-yard delay of game penalty, pushing them back to Chiefs’ 20. Opting for a field goal instead, Spencer Shrader came in and drilled a 38-yarder, tying the game at 30-30 with 3:11 left in overtime.

Now, Patrick Mahomes’ instinct about online blowback was quite accurate. Even though the replay booth ruled in favor of the Colts, fans across X still accused the league of protecting the Chiefs, criticizing the length of the review, and questioning whether Williams made any contact at all.

This frustration had been simmering since regulation. Earlier in the game, Indy was denied a critical 3rd down conversion when Jones hit Keenan Allen near sideline, with officials ruling Allen had not established inbounds possession. The lack of the first-down call in regulation also angered former Colts punter Pat McAfee.

“Hey… WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON @nfl,” he wrote on X.

Tempers flared even in the second quarter when Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton and Sneed landed a painful hit on Jones as the QB scrambled towards the sideline. Despite loud calls from the Colts for unnecessary roughness, no flag was thrown. Jones was marked short of the first down, though Indianapolis converted on fourth down on the very next play.

Either way, the tensions were high. That’s why when the call on Treadwell was announced, fans quickly took to X to call the Chiefs out, just as Mahomes anticipated.

“99% of the time it’s down by contact… But the opponent is…” shared a fan.

“Its only DbC because its the Chiefs,” wrote another.

“Down by contact. Also I hate the Chiefs,” one more vented.

“Clearly down – stop cheating,” seemed to be the general sentiment against the Chiefs.

Now, back in overtime, after Shrader tied the game, Mahomes took over from his own 32-yard line and orchestrated the game-winning drive. Kenneth Walker got the ball on four straight plays, moving the Chiefs downfield for 22 yards. Mahomes then fired off a 22-yard pass to Walker on a 3rd & 1 to Indiana’s 24-yard line. Another 2-yard run by the Super Bowl LX MVP, and the Chiefs were in field goal range, and a 40-yard kick by Harrison Butker sealed the game 33-30.

Mahomes certainly did his part, producing a blistering line of 32-of-47 for 382 yards, three touchdowns, and no turnovers. Kelce was right there with him, catching nine passes for 101 yards and a touchdown while also passing Marshall Faulk for the post-1992 NFL record for career yards after catch. Walker finished with 117 rushing yards and 61 receiving yards and kept finding ways to make an impact.

The Colts had some key contributors too. Daniel Jones finished with 210 passing yards, while Jonathan Taylor ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns. They also had to deal with an early setback when wide receiver Alec Pierce left the game with a left heel injury.

Ultimately, the victory improved KC to 2-0 and gave the Chiefs their eighth consecutive OT win. And the best part? In spite of all the accusations of rigging the game, the Chiefs won this without relying on an official’s ruling to close it out.