Fans want reporter fired after "braindead" questions to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce - "This is absolutely ridiculous"

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are about to begin preparations for their most important game yet: Super Bowl LIX, with a historic hat-trick on the line. While most of the questions during Monday's presser were nothing out of the ordinary, one reporter incited outrage with his line of questioning.

Rich Shertenlieb, a Boston-based radio host whose eponymous 100.7 WZLX show was canceled by iHeartMedia in November 2024 amidst budget cuts, asked the two Kansas City Chiefs stars about refereeing decisions during games.

Shertenlieb choice of questions infuriated the NFL fandom, with one tweeting:

"This is absolutely ridiculous. The people asking these questions should be banned from all NFL media."

More of the outrage can be seen below:

"Such BS. Reporter should be kicked out," one demanded.

"Bruh Pat is such a good media person. Like why tf yall asking him dumbass questions," another asked.

"Absolutely embarrassing. Regardless of how fans feel…how do media members get passes on this stuff?" another wondered.

In defense of himself, Shertenlieb posted:

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Statistician suggests referees aren't helping Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce lead Chiefs to Super Bowl

To dispel the notion that the Chiefs are being helped to the Super Bowl by biased officials, football statistician Ryan Heath made a table a few weeks ago that calculated every NFL team's win probability added from penalties since 2023. The Minnesota Vikings lead the league at 3.54%, sizably ahead of the Dallas Cowboys at 3.21%.

The Chiefs sit just outside the top 10 at 2.43%. The Buffalo Bills, their opponents in the AFC Championship game, were .03 percentage points higher.

In terms of expected points added (EPA) via penalties, Patrick Mahomes and Co. aren't even in the top half. Instead, they are in the bottom quarter at 78.76. Once again, the Vikings and Cowboys lead the league at 137.60 and 126.38 respectively.

That's counting only the penalties that resulted in a first down. When accounting for miscellaneous factors, the Chiefs are in the top 10 in win probability, at 5.50%.

Kickoff for Super Bowl LIX is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox.