CBS is taking heat from NFL fans after choosing its top broadcast crew for Raiders-Chiefs instead of Broncos-49ers, a move that many saw as a clear nod to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce over the better football matchup.
Both games are in the 4:25 p.m. ET window on Sunday, but CBS went with Jim Nantz and J.J.
Watt for Las Vegas-Kansas City rather than Denver-San Francisco. The call stood out because the 49ers are still unbeaten, while the Broncos are 2-1, making that game look like the stronger Super Bowl-type showdown on paper.
Instead, CBS put its premier team on a Chiefs game, with both Kansas City and Las Vegas entering the week at 3-0.
The assignment immediately set off a wave of reaction online, where fans argued the network leaned into star power and familiar storylines. The Chiefs still carry the pull of Mahomes and Kelce, and that kind of attention clearly matters when networks make these decisions.
Fans didn’t soften their criticism. “It’s because Patrick mahomes has these refs in this pocket so he just thinks he can call for his games to be on CBS more broncos 49ers should actually be the game of the day,” one fan wrote.
Another pointed to the divisional angle while still making the case for Denver and San Francisco: “One is a divisional game, so it makes sense, but Broncos Niners will be the more exciting game,” another noted.
A third fan framed the choice as CBS favoring the league’s biggest draw: “Cbs pulls #1 tv crew from donkey 49ers game. Cbs knows America loves chiefs and mahomes,” a third offered.
And one more took aim at the league itself: “Not the @NFL going back on trying to punish the @Raiders and not give any nationally televised games to sucking us off because of our record!”
The move also confirmed that Tony Romo’s leave of absence continues, leaving Nantz and Watt as CBS’s top national pairing. That’s the setup for the network’s biggest games right now, even as fans keep asking for Romo to return.
On the field, both matchups have real appeal, but Broncos-49ers looked like the cleaner football story. The optics of giving the marquee crew to a 3-0 divisional game instead of what many viewed as a potential Super Bowl preview didn’t sit well with plenty of viewers. For CBS, the message from fans was pretty simple: they saw a chance to spotlight the better game, and the network chose the bigger names instead.
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