The stage was set. The cameras were ready. Patrick Mahomes just had to repeat what Tom Brady did back at Super Bowl LI. That’s easier said than done, though, as what Kansas City Chiefs delivered instead was perhaps the worst ever performance by the team in recent years. Mahomes’ team couldn’t score until the waning moments of the third quarter, and were only able to gain 23 yards in the first half—the second-lowest first-half yardage in Super Bowl history. And Travis Kelce?

Well, we’d rather not tell you, but just to give you an idea: The 35-year-old generated four catches on six targets for 39 yards. While Kelce still managed to set the record for most career Super Bowl receptions, surpassing Jerry Rice (35), and also set a record for most playoff receptions among NFL players, February 9 was a brutal day for him—one that he’d rather forget. But, like they say, life must go on…

And Kelce’s pain seemed to have dulled if not fully gone, thanks to Jason Kelce. It only been a week, but the tight end is already back on the New Heights podcast with his brother. As expected, Travis was somewhat heartbroken with what went down at the Caesars Superdome.

“The biggest thing is that after the game I still had over 50-something-plus of my best friends and my family and my loved ones and everybody that has supported me throughout my life…there to, at least, make it not feel like the worst day of my life. An opportunity to get all those people together under one roof, be around them, hug them, smile with them, find a way to get through something really, really tough…It definitely made it a little easier. But the the reality is going to suck here for quite a while. It’s just life, man. It’s life. This sport can humble you so fast, man. It could give you so much praise, it can shoot you to the moon, and it can bury you, man. It can absolutely bury you,” the Chiefs’ player said.

However, Jason was having none of it, as he responded back, “Listen, it’s never been done before…for a reason. It’s incredibly hard to keep teams intact. You’re having an extended season. You guys have played 60 games…over the past three years…and I’m not trying to make excuses. There’s just a reason why it’s never been done and I think that…I know you guys are frustrated right now. I think the reality is what you guys have done is amazing still. I know that you don’t want to hear that right now, and I know that that game is frustrating as a result.”

“But that doesn’t take away from the last seven times you guys have been to the AFC Championships…and five Super Bowls. I mean, it’s remarkable the journey and the run you guys have had. You and Pat and Chris and certain guys have been at the epicenter of this for that entire time and a lot of the guys on this team have been there for…this was their third time in a row…I think that the reality is it’s one of the incredible runs that’s ever happened in this fu—– game and you guys have your legacies cemented on that. And nobody can take that away. I mean, people can try to talk s—, especially if they’ve never done anything in their lives, but that’s the reality of it.”

It’s clear that Jason was trying to sway Travis’ mind away from the game. And he ultimately succeeded, it seems, as Travis then asked his brother at one point, “How was it being down in New Orleans?” To this, the former Philadelphia Eagles star replied with brutal honesty, “Dude, first of all, I don’t remember a lot from college. I feel like when you’re playing in a game, you don’t really get to experience the cities. You guys were there for the whole week but you’re practicing and your schedule is so laid out, you have like maybe two to three hours of the day that you could go do something. And when you get that time, you’re usually not spending it going out. You’re like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna take this time to do nothing’.”

“This was the first time being in New Orleans where I really got to experience the city because every other time I’ve been there it’s been for football. And I gotta say I fu—-g love that city, man. It was an awesome host city. Las Vegas was great. It really was the perfect infrastructure setup to the host the Super Bowl. New Orleans? The perfect vibe, food, mentality, culture. I mean, it was just unreal. The issue was the infrastructure.”

“[It’s] awful. Going from place to place was a trainwreck and then at night, for some reason, they have this ordinance that whenever the train’s coming through town, it has to blow its horn every time it’s going to a crosswalk. So you’re just hearing a fu—-g train horn constantly in the middle of the night, which is annoying as f—. But, outside of that, it was fantastic. It was really good.”  Yeah, Jason had a few cons on his list, but he didn’t hesitate while counting down his favorite parts about New Orleans. Whatever it was, it kept Travis smiling—and that’s all Jason wanted.

Instead of hitting up some fancy restaurant, Jason took a different route—straight to a gas station. And yeah, that might sound sketchy at first, but as Jason put it, “If a gas station spot has some word-of-mouth going about it, you know that s—’s good.” He ordered dark meat, but the guy behind the counter reportedly insisted, “Nah, you gotta try the white meat.” Jason was skeptical—white meat is usually too dry. But the guy’s confidence had him second-guessing, so he decided to roll with it. First bite in, and turns out, it was actually amazing. “That s— was so f—— good,” Jason told Travis.

The story put a grin on Travis’ face, even if just for a moment, giving him a break from all the post-game stress. But of course, not everything has been that easy for Travis lately.

Travis Kelce had a message for the haters—but what did he say?

For Jason Kelce, this game was anything but normal. A lifelong Eagles fan, he had spent his entire career bleeding green. Yet, here he was, watching his little brother battle them for another Super Bowl ring. “I don’t even know how to feel, man,” Jason admitted. “It’s weird. You want your brother to succeed, but at the same time, you’re still an Eagle.” It was a bittersweet mix of pride and loyalty, leaving Jason stuck somewhere between cheering and cringing with every play. He knew what it meant for Travis, but part of him couldn’t ignore how it felt to be on the other side of it all.

If that wasn’t enough, the outside noise made things even trickier. Some fans questioned if he was still “Eagles enough,” while others took shots at him just for supporting his brother. Jason could shake off most things, but the idea that his loyalty was in doubt? That stung. Travis, however, wasn’t having any of it. “F— that, man,” he said. “People know who you are, they know what you did. You’re not less of a brother just because of this game.” It was classic Travis—blunt, unapologetic, and fiercely loyal. He wasn’t just shutting down the haters; he was making sure Jason didn’t carry any guilt for simply being there.

But more than anything, he wanted Jason to know one thing—none of the noise mattered. “You don’t owe any of these d——– the acknowledgment. You really don’t, Jason,” Travis told him. That’s football—the highs, the lows, the heartbreak. But when the final whistle blew, nothing about that night changed what mattered most. Jason was still an Eagle, Travis was still his brother, and no scoreboard could never shake that.