If you know anything about Mexican soccer, you know it’s sometimes a very superstitious sport.

One of the biggest superstitions in all of Mexico might have just hit the other football during the NFL’s AFC Championship game on Sunday.

As you know, the Chiefs lost a hard-fought game to a coin tos.... I mean to the New England Patriots, 37-31, in overtime and had to watch Tom Brady and the Pats ride off to their 11th overall and third consecutive Super Bowl, this time against the Los Angeles Rams.

NFL overtime rules have been widely criticized for a while now, and the Chiefs’ defense certainly cannot go without blame after allowing 524 total yards to New England, plus failing to stop three separate third-and-10 plays in overtime to halt the Patriots’ chance at another ring. But what if all that never mattered? What if the Chiefs were doomed from the start?

La verdadera razón por la que los @Chiefs perdieron el día de ayer #PlayoffsNFL gracias a este wey que llevo su amuleto del @Cruz_Azul_FC #FelizLunes pic.twitter.com/FjcQLULsH1 — Orco (@elorco21) January 21, 2019

Drake might have protected every remaining NFL team from his curse, but right after the game, this picture floats around social media of a Chiefs fan sporting Cruz Azul threads. The Mexican soccer team is one of the country’s most popular in the Liga MX, but they have a long history of choking in finals and “cursing” everything the club comes into contact with.

The backstory

Despite being the team with the fourth-most championships in the country, Cruz Azul is in the midst of a 21-year league title drought. The last time the team won the Liga MX was in 1997. Since then, the club has made it to six league finals, losing all of them. The curse has caused dozens of theories, inside jokes and memes inside the Mexican soccer community. “Cruzazulear” even became a popular vocab word that means to lose or fail at something in humiliating fashion.

Cruz Azul’s curse was in full effect in 2018. The team made it to the Apertura final, favored on paper, against Club America but ultimately lost 2-0 on Dec. 16.

No matter what Cruz Azul does, whether it’s acquire a proven and experienced coach, get a boatload of quality players, finish first place in the regular season, concede a league-low number of goals (all of which happened last season) they just can’t seem to win. They have a history of blowing leads in finals too.

It doesn’t stop there. At last summer’s World Cup, the Cruz Azul hex was seemingly prevalent:

Before Mexico’s group stage bouts with Germany and South Korea, several Mexican fans tracked down fans of those opposing teams and had them pose with Cruz Azul’s jersey.

In the end, Mexico surprisingly defeated defending world champions Germany 1-0 and followed that up with a 2-1 victory over South Korea.

Was it all a coincidence?

(...yeah probably.)

But it’s still of Mexico’s most popular superstitions that has now crossed athletic barriers to affect different sports. Believe what you will. Who’s next? I don’t know, but if you ask me, someone should get a Warriors and Patriots fan to take a picture with the jersey on asap.

One last thing, Chiefs fans. Kansas City was scheduled to play against the L.A. Rams in Mexico City this season, but at the last minute, the NFL pulled the game from the country citing poor field conditions.

Well, it seems like your team will be back in the Estadio Azteca to play against the Chargers during the 2019 season. Be warned, though, the Azteca is Cruz Azul’s home stadium. I can almost guarantee there will be people there with Cruz Azul jerseys, and depending on which team they root for or which group of fans they gift their threads to, that may be the definitive factor in either the Chiefs or the Chargers taking the L.

You can follow Antonio on Twitter @antonio1998__