Many football fans are unsure of who they will root for in the Super Bowl. On one hand, people don’t want to root for Philadelphia and its “obnoxious” fanbase, but on the other hand, people don’t like seeing teams dominate.

In a poll conducted by Emerson College Polling, it was revealed that 35% of respondents want the Eagles to win, while 29% are rooting for a Chiefs three-peat. However, the majority, 36% had no opinion, and it’s because they don’t want either team to win.

The Chiefs aren’t just winning consistently, they’re dominating. This is their fifth Super Bowl appearance in six years. On Christmas day in 2023, the Chiefs were sitting at 9-6 with many fans doubting another playoff run. Since then, they have gone a mind-boggling 23-2, with one of those losses coming from a game where they rested their starters. They’ve done nothing but win for the last 400 days.

What makes their two straight Super Bowl wins even more impressive is how they have been able to pull it off. After losing in the AFC Championship game to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022, the Chiefs traded arguably the best wide receiver in the league, Tyreek Hill, to the Miami Dolphins. After trading Hill, the Chiefs have had nothing but success and are on the verge of their third straight Lombardi Trophy.

So how did we get here? How have the Chiefs become the villains of the league? Seven years ago, the NFL cheered on as the Chiefs narrowly lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, and when Kansas City won their first Super Bowl, they were wildly popular. They were credited with ending the dynasty in New England. Yet now, they have become the very thing they swore to destroy. The Chiefs have replaced the Patriots as the NFL’s most hated team, and are now the villains of the league.

The Chiefs have not won by domination, however—in fact a large majority of their wins are within just one score of their opponent. Of the 23 wins they’ve recorded since Christmas 2023, 18 of those wins have been within one score, with over half of them coming down to the final seconds. Are they just really lucky, or is there something more to their success?

A lot of NFL fans on social media claim that the refs have something to do with the Chief’s success. Every team in every sport gets controversial calls from time to time, there’s no denying that, but do the Chiefs get more controversial calls than the average team?

In 2024, the Chiefs were penalized an average of 5.4 times per game, the fewest in the league. According to Fox Sports, the Chiefs have never been penalized more than their opponent in the playoffs.

The refs might play a role, but even without the officials, it has felt like Kansas City always makes the clutch play. Their 18-straight wins in one-score games is an ongoing NFL record, that blew past the previous mark of 11. For the past year, it has felt like in every game, the Chiefs were vulnerable, and yet they simply refuse to lose. While some fans are impressed, other fans are probably getting tired of seeing the same time win every close game.

With the Chiefs set off to play the Eagles in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years, some fans are getting flashbacks to the last time they played. The Chiefs and Eagles were tied 35-35 with under two minutes remaining when a very questionable pass interference call ended arguably one of the better Super Bowls of all time, by allowing the Chiefs to kick a field goal with almost no time remaining.

One of the leading reasons why people can’t stand the Chiefs is because Taylor Swift is dating the Chiefs star tight end, Travis Kelce. This has brought a lot of new NFL fans, specifically Chiefs fans. Because of this, Taylor Swift gets put on the screen, usually after a big play or a touchdown.

Kelce also comes off to some fans as annoying. His postgame celebrations after each win can feel like gloating, and his “too cool for school” personality has not done him any favors among the sports media.

Kansas City’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes is one of the most likable players in the NFL today, but his brother drives fans away. From doing childish TikTok dances on Sean Taylor’s memorial to being charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery, it feels like Jackson Mahomes does everything in his power to keep people hating him. And to make it worse, his brother keeps winning.

There is also a political element to the Chiefs’ hate. Kicker Harrison Butker gave a politically charged speech during the commencement at Benedictine College, during which he made assertions that parenthood should be prioritized over a career. He was accused of making misogynistic remarks, but the Chiefs did not offer any apologies or statements.

Meanwhile, Brittany Mahomes, the wife of their star quarterback, was linked to President Donald Trump when she liked one of his posts on Instagram last summer. Although she did not endorse the President, he thanked Brittany for her support in a truth social post and said he was a big fan.

There was also controversy in conservative circles regarding Kelce, who appeared in commercials for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination. Many fringe conservative commentators accused Kelce of working with former President Joe Biden to promote the vaccine, which led Biden to post a disturbing image of himself with red eyes, captioned “just how we drew it up,” after the Chiefs won the 2024 Super Bowl against the 49ers.

Despite the controversy, the Chiefs have been able to tune out the noise and have racked up win after win. In the past five years, they have eliminated the following teams in the playoffs:

Buffalo Bills (x4), San Francisco 49ers (x2, Super Bowls), Houston Texans (x2), Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles.

They’ve also prevented the teams in their division, the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos, from even reaching the playoffs, by winning the AFC West ten straight years. Effectively, during their run of success, the Chiefs have eliminated half the league.

Between their extraordinary success, their political controversies and their luck with referees, it’s no surprise there is so much hate for the Chiefs. In fact, a new term has blossomed among NFL circles, calling it “Chiefs-derangement-syndrome,” or CDS for short. Fans with CDS are tired of seeing the same team win over and over again, and will be tuning in to the Super Bowl for one reason only: they are praying on the downfall of Kansas City.

Will Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs be the first-ever NFL team to three-peat in the Super Bowl? Tune in on Hulu, YouTube TV or NFL Plus to find out this Sunday at 3:30 p.m.