Cries from coaches, players and fans that the NFL is biased to popular teams and/or superstar players is one of the few criticisms that the league will always push back on.
Competitive balance is the league’s mantra, after all. Any Given Sunday, and all of that. Most of the conspiracy theories don’t exactly shake out, either. No, the refs weren't trying to set a certain matchup when they missed that pass interference call.
Yet then the NFL does something like set its Week 18 schedule and, well, you can see why the claims of favoritism persist.