Once Again, the NFL Has Put the World on Notice the Regular Rules Will Not Apply to the Chiefs

Most of the time, football coaches can’t finish a sentence without reminding us that in the NFL, each day is different. Every game is different. Every season is different. And that is self-evidently true.

But if there’s one constant in pro football life, one thread that runs consistently throughout all the variables, it is that the Kansas City Chiefs are going to get the benefit of calls no other team does. And last night was further proof that no one should need.

Note that headline above. I chose those words carefully. Because exactly one year and one day ago, I was making the same point:

Two seasons in a row. Two NFL Kickoff games in a row. Two displays on prime time TV that the Super Bowl champs operate off a different rule book than the other 31. No case in point illustrated that more blatantly than this magical moment: