NFL fans were left outraged by a ‘sickening decision’ by Patrick Mahomes at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night.
Going into the final possession of the game, Mahomes had accumulate 30 rushing yards – well over the popular betting market for the quarterback to reach at least 19.5 yards on the ground.
But with time on the clock that needed to be killed to ensure a Chiefs win, Mahomes had to do some improvisation before officially kneeling down so time could expire.
In order to do that, he dropped back on each of his kneel downs for losses of five yards, four yards, and four yards again.
That was good enough to end the game – but it also dropped his total rushing yards down from 30 to 17, crushing the hopes of people that bet money on Mahomes to surpass 19.5 yards for the evening.
According to BetMGM, 94 per cent of their sportsbook’s tickets were on the Chiefs signal caller to go over 19.5 rushing yards for the game – and many were left irate at his decision to lose that many yards late on.
People began posting tickets of their losses on social media – with many people outraged and cursing the quarterback’s name.
One posted: ‘Mahomes o/u in rushing yards 18.5 Him losing 9 yards because I’m three plays while taking knees to force the under is sickening. I’m sure the NFL isn’t rigged.’
‘I hate this mfer SO much,’ wrote one upset bettor on Twitter. ‘Annoying a** lost me my 150 dollars by 1.5 rush yards cuz of this dumb s***.’
Another user wrote, ‘I love seeing this kinda stuff and hearing people say sports aren’t rigged.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse beat than this,’ said another user.
‘Mahomes just kneeled for -13 yards? Are you serious?,’ one user – who posted their betting ticket – wrote.
‘Second time this season I’ve lost a QB rushing prop due to knee downs,’ read another post.
Another person said: ‘There aren’t many bad beats worse than this. 13 yards in three plays? Ouch.’
As for Mahomes himself, the Chiefs quarterback did decently against the Atlanta defense.
Mahomes completed 26-of-39 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception while picking up those 17 yards on the ground.
Only four of those completions were to tight end Travis Kelce, who continues to suffer from a slow start this season – which has led to calls by some for him to consider retirement.
Kansas City will take their perfect 3-0 record into Los Angeles when they take on the division rival Chargers next Sunday.