Travis Kelce, Kansas City’s favorite touchdown-catching, celebration-dancing tight end, is having a bit of a rough time this season. Imagine being a 34-year-old NFL superstar, but the ball is playing hard-to-get like a middle school crush. That’s basically where Travis is at right now.
During Sunday’s (Sept. 22) game against the Atlanta Falcons, Travis was once again out there trying to find the football, like it’s a lost remote under the couch. Spoiler alert: he didn’t find it much.
After the game, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes—Travis’ ride-or-die in this football rom-com—had some thoughts on his buddy’s “Where’s Waldo?” level of visibility on the field.
“It’s wild out there,” said Mahomes, who is 29 but already speaks like a football philosopher. “Teams see Travis and it’s like he’s Beyoncé. Suddenly, he’s surrounded by backup dancers—two or three defenders at a time! We’re out here calling plays for Travis, but it’s like, nope, everybody’s crashing his party. That’s what makes him great though, he’s just here to win.”
Mahomes is still hopeful, though. “Look, I’m going to keep feeding him the ball like he’s a baby bird. But we need to get some other guys going too. The more Rashee Rice does his thing, the more we run the ball, the more we can get Xavier Worthy in there…maybe, just maybe, teams will stop treating Travis like the last slice of pizza.”
Despite Travis’ sneaky Houdini act on the field, the Chiefs are still out here flexing with a 3-0 record. That’s right, undefeated. So, who needs stats when you’ve got wins, right?
But let’s rewind to last week’s episode of New Heights, the Kelce Brothers’ podcast, where Travis had some real talk. Apparently, earlier in his career, if things weren’t going his way, he’d get so mad, you’d think someone ate his fries.
“I used to lose it—like, Hulk smash level angry. It’s tough when you demand greatness from yourself, but the stat sheet is out here like, ‘Nah, not today,’” Travis admitted. “But, honestly, these last couple of games? Eh, it’s football. It happens. I’m not gonna sit here and cry about it.”
Sure, that’s what he said. But during the game against the Falcons, the cameras caught him on the sidelines looking like someone just told him the McFlurry machine was broken. Head down, rubbing his eyes—it was peak “sad boy hours.”
But hey, every hero has their low points, right? Travis Kelce isn’t giving up, and neither are the Chiefs. He may be down right now, but just wait till the football gods decide to send those passes his way. Maybe next game, Travis. Maybe next game.
