NFL Announces Punishment to Patrick Mahomes for Action in Bills Game

After being handed his first loss of the season against the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is now taking a hit to the wallet.

NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero reported on Nov. 23 that the league fined Mahomes for a gesture in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 31-20 loss to the Bills.

“The NFL fined #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes $14,069 for unsportsmanlike conduct (violent gesture) as he celebrated a touchdown pass last week in Buffalo,” Pelissero wrote in a post on X.

Mahomes was not the only player to face punishment from last week’s game, with two other players handed fines from the NFL.

League Cracking Down on ‘Violent Gesture’ Actions

Mahomes appeared to make a gesture of shooting a gun after throwing a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to cut Buffalo’s lead to 23-21. As The Athletic’s Mike Jones noted, the league is getting tougher on gun and other violent gestures this season — and informed players that the crackdown would be coming.

“One high-ranking league employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t want to comment on any specific incident, said players are warned every year that such gestures will result in penalties and fines,” Jones wrote. “The league shows a video to players each year instructing them on acceptable and unacceptable forms of celebration. The NFL rulebook, which is given every year to each player, also prohibits any gun-related salutes.”

Several other players have been fined for making gun gestures, and Jones reported that the NCAA is taking the NFL’s lead and issuing punishment for players who celebrate with gun gestures.

This was not the first time that Mahomes faced a fine after losing to the Bills. The Chiefs quarterback was handed a $50,000 fine after last December’s loss for criticizing officials. Mahomes was upset that the Chiefs were flagged for lining up offsides on what would have been a go-ahead touchdown, yelling at officials after the play and voicing further criticism after the game.

Mahomes took responsibility, saying later on in the season that he had to accept the league’s fine.

“I had outbursts on the sideline and everybody saw it on a big game, and so there’s going to be consequences to that,” Mahomes said, via ESPN. “Now you’ve just got to live with those consequences, learn from it, become better from it and not try to let that happen again. But we kind of just kept it moving.”

Two Other Players Face Fines

Mahomes was not alone in facing punishment for Sunday’s game, Buffalo’s WGRZ reported. Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa was also fined $15,400 for unnecessary roughness in the fourth quarter after using a hip-drop tackle on running back Carson Steele.

Epenesa was not flagged for the tackle. The Chiefs went on to score a touchdown on the drive, leading to the celebration that cost Mahomes.

Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was also handed a $11,255 fine for grabbing a facemask.

The Bills moved to 9-2 with the win over the Chiefs, sending them into the bye week with the team’s best record through 10 games in more than 30 years.