No gunshots on Feb 9! 43-year-old Ashley Carlson can clearly remember the night of January 26. The Troost Plateau Neighborhood resident had returned to her home amid gunshots. It was the Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC Championship win, and the fans went berserk with celebratory yet illegal gunfire. Ashley was petrified the next morning. Windows broken, and upon careful inspection, turns out, it was a bullet hole that was no less than a death stare, exactly where her cat sat to look out over the street as routine! For Ashley, Sunday could have presented another night of horror. But the night came, and went by. No laws were broken this time.

A win or a loss can truly make or break things. Last year, Travis Kelce had all things rosy after the Chiefs’ nail-biting 25-22 win against the 49ers in Super Bowl 58. For his part, Kelce had nine receptions for 93 yards and a key first down to keep the game alive. The win became even more special with Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift who was not only in attendance but also shared a wholesome moment with the tight end after the win. A few minutes after the win, Swift came down to the field to hear Kelce’s winning speech and gave him a kiss. She was overheard praising Kelce’s win, calling it “unbelievable.” Kelce had some moments for the NFL records book as well.

He surpassed NFL legend Jerry Rice for the most catches (152) in NFL playoff history and became a back-to-back Super Bowl champion. The thought of bidding the sport goodbye was nowhere in sight, with the lure of the three-peat history. Jump cut to this year and looks like the script has flipped 180 degrees, both on and off the field.

Kelce tallied just four catches for 39 yards against the Eagles who raised questions if he was still the dominant force that he was just a year prior. Alongside, the heartbreaking loss also cut down the hearty exchange between Kelce and Taylor.

Taylor did not come out on the field beside Kelce. She was instead booed by the heavily pro-Eagles crowd when shown on the video boards inside the Superdome during a break in the first quarter. In response, Swift gave a bit of a side-eye and wrinkled her nose when she realized the booing was directed at her. Meanwhile, Kelce looked visibly distressed walking off the field at halftime, when the Eagles had a 24-0 lead over the Chiefs. The biggest part was it made Kelce stand before the big question: what next?

Before the big game, he confidently stated he had “a full heart of football left in me” and planned to keep playing for a few more years. However, after the loss, his tone shifted. “I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,” Kelce admitted. “And I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back that it’s gonna be a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-a**ing it, ” Kelce said in His New Heights podcast. In other words, he’s not just running it back for the sake of it. He continued,

“I know everybody wants to know whether I am playing next year, and right now I am just kicking everything down the road. I am kicking every can I can down the road. I am not making any crazy decisions, but right now the biggest thing is just being there for my teammates and being there for my coaches, understanding there’s a lot that goes into this thing,” Kelce said.

And honestly, who could blame him? He has been grinding hard, playing extra games every season because the Chiefs always make deep playoff runs. “The fact that we keep going to these AFC Championships and Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league,” he explained. “That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body… it can weigh on you. It can make you better, and it can drive you crazy. Right now, it was one of those things where it was driving me crazy this year. It happens as you tail off towards the back nine of your career” Clearly, the nonstop grind is catching up to him.

Top Comment by Boooo

They weren't prepared to Play and defeat the Eagles, any way you spin it. All they prepared for was Getting...more

Share your take

Debate

Beyond that, Travis Kelce has undergone 10 surgeries, and even though he continues to carry the Chiefs‘ offense—leading the team with 97 receptions and 823 yards this season—he knows time isn’t on his side. “I think I can play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human, as a person to take on all that responsibility,” Travis Kelce said. With each season, the mental and physical toll grows heavier, making this decision even more crucial. Patrick Mahomes also spoke along similar lines.

Mahomes was asked about his close friend’s future in the game. “Kelce still has good football left in him,” Mahomes said. “It’s about if he wants to go through the grind of another season. I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own. It’s a grind to go through 20 games to get to a Super Bowl, or whatever it is. I know he still has the love for the game. We love that guy.” Amid all this looks like an alternate career is already budding for Kelce.

Travis Kelce has stacked his schedule with major moves in the entertainment world. He made his acting debut last year in Ryan Murphy’s FX horror series Grotesquerie and will soon appear alongside Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2. Additionally, he’s executive-producing the indie film My Dead Friend Zoe and hosting Prime Video’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? Industry insiders rave about his charisma and comedic timing, with casting director Matthew Barry even comparing him to Dwayne ‘The Rock‘ Johnson, saying, “The camera loves confidence, and Travis has it in spades.”

With his New Heights podcast blowing up, Hollywood calling, and business ventures rapidly expanding, Kelce has plenty of paths to choose from. However, until he makes a final decision, Chiefs Kingdom remains lowkey stressed, waiting to see if their TE1 is gearing up for another season—or stepping into his next era. While talks of Kelce’s retirement swirl, Andy Reid is being relentlessly criticized for the way he handled the Super Bowl game.

Andy Reid gets dragged for Super Bowl game plan

Andy Reid is a coaching GOAT, no doubt, but even legends aren’t safe from getting flamed. Especially after a Super Bowl disaster. The Chiefs got absolutely cooked by the Eagles. And now fans are side-eyeing some of Reid’s decisions, especially when it came to protecting Patrick Mahomes.

One of the biggest What the f— moments? The Chiefs actually had Travis Kelce trying to block Eagles pass rusher Josh Sweat one-on-one. Like… be so for real. Kelce is elite at a lot of things, but blocking is not one of them. Predictably, Sweat went feral, racking up 2.5 sacks and terrorizing the Chiefs’ O-line all night. Former NFL lineman Brian Baldinger straight-up called it “boneheaded” saying, “Is that really Kelce supposed to block him? Like that was Kelce on him, what was he doing on Josh Sweat?” Yeah, make it make sense.

And honestly, this game was over before it even started. Mahomes’ first-half pick-six put the Eagles up 17-0, and by halftime, it was already 24-0. At one point, the Chiefs were down 34-0 before they even touched the scoreboard. The game plan was not hitting, and Reid—who usually has everything locked in—just didn’t have the sauce this time.

After the game, Kelce shared Reid’s message to the team: “This one’s going to hurt. Let it hurt. Figure out how to get better because of it.” Short, but real. This team knows how to bounce back, and if we’ve learned anything from Mahomes & Co. It’s that they don’t stay down for long. Yeah, this loss was tough. But let’s not act like the dynasty is cooked. The Chiefs just went back-to-back and were this close to making history with a three-peat. They will surely look to coming back, making their 2025 revenge tour even scarier.