Bill Belichick Drops Mask to Scream at Refs During Patriots-Chiefs Game

Bill Belichick was very angry with one particular play in the New England Patriots versus Kansas City Chiefs game on Monday night. In the second quarter, The Chiefs were leading 6-3 and were driving. The Patriots were able to sack Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who appeared to have fumbled. The Patriots picked up the loose ball, which never hit the ground, and started to run to the end zone. However, the officials blew their whistles indicating the play was dead, which then led to Belichick taking off his two masks and began screaming at the refs.

The thought was Belichick could have challenged the play and likely would have won. However, the Patriots head coach declined to challenge because he thought it was a clear interception. “If Coach Belichick just throws that flag as quickly as we can, we have to stop and take that review,” CBS officiating expert Gene Steratore said during the broadcast as reported by Yahoo Sports. “It would have also helped if [referee Tony] Corrente would have announced what the ruling was on the field to give them an idea what to challenge and not challenge, but we can clearly see this is an interception.”

After the game, Corrente explained why the play was blown dead. “I felt that he was being controlled quite a bit prior to him actually going to the ground,” he said in a pool report when talking about Mahomes. “And as he was being controlled, other players were coming in at him. And so with those other players barring down on him, a quarterback is considered in the grasp and his forward progress is considered stopped when I feel as though the player’s safety is being jeopardized.”

When Belichick talked to reporters, he explained why he didn’t challenge the call. “They called forward progress and he was down,” he said. “You can’t challenge that. They called him down, they called forward progress. That’s what I thought he called.” Had the play not been blown dead, the Patriots, who were missing quarterback Cam Newton, would have likely had the lead going into the half. But when it was all said the done, the Chiefs proved they were a stronger team as they took down the Patriots 26-10.