Following the Houston Texans loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round, the league took a lot of criticism.
As was the case for much of the year, the Chiefs received the benefit of several questionable calls. One in particular led to Troy Aikman losing his mind during broadcast as the Texans were flagged for a late hit on Patrick Mahomes — even though he slid late and the defenders hit each other.
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The continued bad calls led to outrage from Texans players and members of the media. There were so many people taking exception to the league’s perceived favoritism that they couldn’t even keep the complainants straight.
That was evident when Joe Mixon was fined for something he never said.
An SI article quoted Mixon saying you can’t leave the game in the refs hands. They also quoted former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh who said "why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are trash and bias” in a tweet.
Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are 🗑🗑🗑🗑 & bias
— T.J. Houshmandzadeh (@housh84) January 18, 2025
Mixon was later fined $25,000 for the quote from Houshmandzadeh. As expected, he appealed the fine and on Tuesday, it was reported he won his appeal.
The league became a laughingstock for the fine and refused to admit their mistake. Instead, they changed the reason for his fine, now claiming Mixon’s words were enough to warrant punishment.
Appeals officer Chris Palmer disagreed, stating Mixon’s words "did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials."
It was an interesting story to follow but in the end, Mixon won’t have to pay a fine that he never should have received.