Travis Kelce has slammed claims that the Kansas City Chiefs threw the game against the Denver Broncos to cost the Cincinnati Bengals a spot in the NFL playoffs.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid decided to rest his starters, including tight end Kelce, for the trip to Denver as the three-peat-chasing team eyes another Super Bowl. Kansas City ended up enduring a one-sided beatdown, losing 38-0 to the Broncos, who secured their first playoff birth in nearly a decade.
The rest will allow Kelce to enjoy 20-plus days to prepare for the Chiefs’ AFC divisional game later this month. The team’s 15-2 regular season record handed them the No. 1 seed and a bye in the wild card stage. However, the Bengals’ defeat to the Broncos ended their chances of reaching the playoffs, with Cincinnati needing Kansas City to beat Denver to sneak in.
Some have suggested that part of the Chiefs losing was to prevent facing the high-scoring offense of the Bengals in an elimination game in their bid to reach the Super Bowl. However, tight end Kelce wasn’t in the mood to entertain that narrative.
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“I ain’t scared of ——- nobody. I wanted them in the playoffs; I want to slay every dragon one by one like Mortal Kombat,” Kelce said in the latest episode of New Heights. “I don’t even want this to be like, ‘We play the lowest seeds.’
“Just give me the best teams. AFC, NFC, give me all of them. Mortal Kombat style. I’ll go through every ——- one of them just giving my best effort. I ain’t scared of a single soul.”
He added: “I’ll play ’em at the Walmart parking lot. I don’t give a —-, we can have our own game in the offseason, when we really duke it out again. Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun — ——- team to watch towards the end of the season, and it’s a shame they didn’t make it into the playoffs.”
Joe Burrow and the Bengals needed the Chiefs to beat the Broncos to make the playoffs (
Getty)
Ultimately, the Bengals’ form earlier in the season cost the franchise a playoff spot despite finishing the 2024 regular campaign as one of the highest-scoring, entertaining offenses. Cincinnati lost eight of their first 12 NFL games this season before winning their remaining five in a row to give themselves a chance at making the playoffs.
For the Chiefs, they’ve been plagued with injuries in 2024. Nonetheless, Kansas City managed a 15-2 record despite missing Hollywood Brown and Isiah Pacheco on offense for most of the season.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes also flirted with injury towards the back end of last year, and defensive star Chris Jones is recovering from a calf injury before playoff football starts.
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