Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I need to ask this question. I am really starting to question the legitimacy of the results we are seeing on the field in the NFL these days and I began leaning even further in that direction after hearing about the Chiefs game vs the Texans. And apparently I am far from being the only one who feels this way about the current state of the league because talk about the NFL being 'fixed' was all over the news and sports talk shows this week.

It really wouldn't be that difficult to manipulate the outcome of an NFL game. All they would really need to do is throw a few timely penalties that extends the drive for one team and takes away a potential drive from the other. Apparently precisely what happened in the Chiefs game last week. Because that is really all the NFL is these days is getting drives and making sure you get more than just three or four plays during them so you will have a chance at scoring points.

Now let me make this clear I still in no way think they are planning outcomes like they do in wrestling and writing scripts for them. However I am beginning to think that the NFL has certain players and teams that they want to see do well and will occasionally do things to help those players and teams look good. I don't think this is anything new either as I think you could go all the way back to the '80's 49ers where the NFL wanted Joe Montana to look good so he could be the face of the league. I think the main difference between then and now though is in the past the top teams were usually legitimately better than the vast majority of their competition so the league didn't necessarily need to step in to help them out. These days though there is little to no difference between any of the teams in the NFL. Teams all look pretty evenly matched no matter who is playing so if the league wants certain teams and players to do well they need to step in now more than ever before. Because these days you could very easily see two .500 teams make it to the Super Bowl (which I imagine isn't something the NFL wants to see happen).

In anycase all this talk about the league being staged isn't a good look no matter what the reality is. The league needs to do something about it because if feelings about not being able to trust the outcomes we see becomes too widespread it could spell the downfall of the NFL. Even though the NFL currently is by far the most watched league around I do think of the three major professional sports (NFL, MLB, and the NBA) the NFL is the least likely to still be around fifty years from now.

As for myself although I still really enjoy the history of the game I have totally fallen off the current era of the league. Not even sure I am even going to watch the Super Bowl this year. I still really like the sport but I mainly just watch college and highschool.

That Chiefs-Texans game had alot of people shaking their heads.
Some ridiculous calls, especially the one personal foul where the defenders hit each other rather than Mahomes. The interpretation was more for INTENT than contact! Then the league fines Joe Mixon twice for criticizing the officials, with the first fine for something he didnt say or tweet!

Even during the game, some crazy stuff. The Texans are running the ball easily but on a crucial drive, they go back to pass and get buried by the KC pass rush. Seriously, Shultz a receiving tight end blocking Karlaftis? Dont get me started on Travis Kelce. 20 years ago, everybody on defense would have been knocking him around like a pinball, but since 2019, teams mostly leave him uncovered or rarely challenged off the line during playoff games.

I know he gets releases from the slot and runs good patterns but nobody runs routes that good. I wish George Allen were alive to call one of these games with Kelce. I could literally hear him saying aloud, "Why arent teams taking this threat away and laying the wood to him"? "You have to hit him off the line of scrimmage", "What are these coaches and players doing, letting him go uncovered? It would be great ...

Stuff like this is why I say if you’ve made the conference championship game, you’ve had a solid season for yourself.

Most of the best teams of their generation probably did that at least once.

Not sure how “rigged” I’d say things are in the NFL, and didn’t get to watch the Chiefs-Texans game, but I would agree that penalties can kill or extend drives, and I’d also agree that the talent discrepancies between the best teams and worst teams in the league is much smaller than it used to be.

Even if fans and observers are skeptical, people still watch the NFL because of its high-collision nature. People, like myself, root for an underdog or to see young players step up and perform under pressure.

Before the Chiefs got Mahomes, Andy Reid was considered more of a good coach than great coach, who had teams that ran out of gas or made mental errors at the ends of playoff games. Now, after three SBs in five years, some people feel he is the best head coach, ever. I dont mind the victor getting the spoils--I saw that movie before with Brady and the Patriots--but this league needs more victors without a team or player getting any perceived, unfair lee-way.

This decade has seen more than its share of conspiracy nonsense, but it's getting harder and harder to dismiss the notion that the NFL subtly pushes certain scenarios and agendas in its games. After a while, the patterns we see in officiating, how fines are levied, etc., become too apparent to ignore.

What's a bit disheartening is concluding, right or wrong, that the league doesn't mind fans questioning the integrity of the games as long as they're watching them (and the flood of commercials that pollute them). The open endorsement of sports betting by the networks does not come without the NFL's at least implicit approval. The money that flows to the NFL gets dirtier and dirtier, but as long as it's green enough to be spent, it's all good.

NFL viewership is down, especially in the nation's biggest TV market, NYC, where ratings are down about 30%, and that's going to have a negative impact on the league's revenue in the next round of TV negotiations. If the NFL were fixing games, the Giants and Jets would have winning records.

rhickok1109 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:10 am NFL viewership is down, especially in the nation's biggest TV market, NYC, where ratings are down about 30%, and that's going to have a negative impact on the league's revenue in the next round of TV negotiations. If the NFL were fixing games, the Giants and Jets would have winning records.

The Giants and Jets are about as bad as it's possible for two teams to be, not really sure what you do about that.

NFL really does better than anything else in ratings, I'm not worried for them.

Citizen wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 8:30 am This decade has seen more than its share of conspiracy nonsense, but it's getting harder and harder to dismiss the notion that the NFL subtly pushes certain scenarios and agendas in its games. After a while, the patterns we see in officiating, how fines are levied, etc., become too apparent to ignore.

What's a bit disheartening is concluding, right or wrong, that the league doesn't mind fans questioning the integrity of the games as long as they're watching them (and the flood of commercials that pollute them). The open endorsement of sports betting by the networks does not come without the NFL's at least implicit approval. The money that flows to the NFL gets dirtier and dirtier, but as long as it's green enough to be spent, it's all good.

One thing that I have definitely noticed over the last five to ten years is that many of the people who are big fans of the current era of the NFL are also wrestling fans........and vice versa. The two really kind of go hand in hand with each other anymore as both focus on the physicality of sports (though the NFL isn't nearly as physical as it once was). If the NFL came out tomorrow and said yes a certain number of our games are fixed or manipulated to get a certain outcome while the league definitely would take a big hit there would still probably be enough people interested to keep the league going and to continue to get lucrative tv contracts. Probably 30 to 40% of the current fans wouldn't care if it was rigged or not. As long as they kept it entertaining they would keep on watching.

Bread and circuses.

I'm not on board with all this fixing and rigging that people say about the NFL. I don't believe it.

If anything, I say there is more bias/favoritism in college football. It seems to be the same teams - Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, et al. - that are at the top every season. There is far less parity there than in the NFL.