Christmas Day was not good for star tight end Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs. With the Pro Bowler’s better half Taylor Swift on hand, Kansas City lost at home to the Las Vegas Raiders.
It was yet another ugly showing for the defending champs in a slate that has been filled with them recently. Kansas City sits at a mediocre (by it standards) 9-6 on the season. It has lost five of eight since starting the season 6-1.
Appearing on his New Heights podcast recently, Kelce went on a curse-filled rant in talking about the status of his team heading into Week 17 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“It’s not just one guy,” Kelce said. “It’s not just me playing like dog s**t. It’s not just us not being able to get the run game going. It’s not just us not being on the same page, passing-wise. Everybody’s in this f***ing thing together. Everybody at some point isn’t being accountable.”
He expanded on what he’s seeing, too.
“Every single play is somebody not doing their job, and it’s me. It’s everybody on the team. And whether that’s prep, whether that’s having the confidence and understanding of what the defense is in their coverages, their gaps in the run game, how we’re picking up blitzes, how we’re running routes versus certain coverages. All the above,” Kelce said.
The game’s best tight end displayed a ton of frustration during Monday’s loss to the Raiders, including getting into it with head coach Andy Reid.
Kelce touched on this as well.
“He’s (Reid) looking out for me, and I love him for it. I didn’t go back out there and play good. He wanted to see the fire in me, and I reacted in a bad way. He wanted to just get the best out of me. And right now, I’m just not playing my best football and I got to f***ing lock the f-**k in and be more accountable for him. Be more accountable for my teammates. I got to keep my f***ing cool, man, because as a leader on this team, that’s not how you switch the momentum.”
Travis Kelce on his frustrations, via ESPN
More than anything, it’s been struggles on the offensive side of the ball that has doomed Kansas City recently. That included the Raiders scoring two defensive touchdowns within a seven-second span on Monday.
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Travis Kelce stats (2023): 90 receptions, 968 yards, 5 TD
As you can see, Kelce is still putting up solid numbers. Patrick Mahomes actually boasts a 107.8 QB rating when targeting the star tight end.
However, Kelce has also dropped seven balls on the season and has not seen his production be there recently. He caught five balls for 44 yards on Monday. That came after Kelce tallied just 28 receiving yards in an ugly win over the New England Patriots back in Week 15.
Despite all of this, the Chiefs will clinch the AFC West should they win one of their final two games. After taking on Cincinnati this week, Kansas City closes up shop on the regular season on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers on Jan. 7.