Two fan maps of the United States illustrate how Chiefs have become NFL’s biggest villains

It wasn’t all that long ago that NFL fans loved Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

In his first season as a starting quarterback, Mahomes guided the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game and fans around the nation were pulling for Andy Reid’s team.

On Jan. 20, 2019, the upstart Chiefs were playing in their first AFC Championship Game in a quarter century. The opponent that day at Arrowhead Stadium: the New England Patriots.

A map of geotagged social-media posts determined who fans in each state were rooting for in that Chiefs-Patriots matchup. There’s a lot of red in this map.

Ah, but times have changed. As Harvey Dent noted in “The Dark Knight:” “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

“Chiefs Fatigue” has set in among NFL fans, who now view Kansas City as Public Enemy No. 1, as my colleague Vahe Gregorian noted.

Ahead of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and Bills, most of the country is rooting for Buffalo. BetOnline.ag studied geotagged X posts and found fans in just six states are rooting for the Chiefs now: Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Here’s how that map of the United States looks going into Sunday’s game.

That’s quite a difference, right?

Bet Online said in an email: “There are three main reasons for this. 1. The Bills are a fan favorite as it is (people also enjoy the antics of their fans). 2. The Kansas City Chiefs are now the most ‘hated’ NFL team. Both for their constant success, and the notion that they are getting preferential treatment from the refs. You also have the Taylor Swift angle some fans don’t like. And finally 3. Many NFL fans would like to see Buffalo finally avenge their 4 Super Bowl losses in a row.”