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The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos will kick off their regular season with a key divisional matchup, where every detail is important.
Over the years, the Chiefs have been accused of officiating favoritism in the Patrick Mahomes era, which comes with the territory of being such a successful team. After a disappointing 2025 season, the Chiefs hope to return to their previous level of success, and fans will be glued to the officiating on Monday night.
The NFL assigned a veteran referee to the Chiefs-Broncos game, which is notable considering this referee's recent history with Mahomes and the Chiefs. If there are any officiating questions that come from this game, fans will once again be looking have their eyes set on the referee assignment.
Here's why the referee for the Chiefs-Broncos game is of note.
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Chiefs-Broncos referee assignment
The NFL assigned veteran referee Clay Martin to officiate the the Chiefs-Broncos game on Monday night. Martin, who has been a referee for the NFL since 2015, has officiated 10 Chiefs game in that span, including twice in the playoffs.
What is notable, though, is that the Chiefs are 8-0 in games that Martin has refereed in the Patrick Mahomes era, while they were 0-2 in Clay Martin games before Mahomes became the starting team.
🚨Clay Martin has been assigned as the head official for tonight's Broncos / Chiefs game...
Under him, the Chiefs are undefeated.
8-0.
Over the last 3 KC games he officiated, KC received 130 LESS penalty yards against them than their opponents.
Welcome back, Patrick. pic.twitter.com/lOIedJL0CS
Martin officiated one Chiefs game last year, which was Kansas City's win over the Baltimore Ravens, and he worked three Chiefs games from 2023 to 2024, including Kansas City's divisional round matchup against the Houston Texans.
On the other side, the Broncos have not had much success in Martin-officiated games. Denver is just 2-8 in games where the team drew Martin as a referee, including 0-3 in such games since the start of the 2022 season.
Martin did not officiate any Broncos last year, when Denver won 14 games in the regular season, and the Broncos' last game with Martin was a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024.
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