There’s been a narrative formulating in some media circles — not many, but some.
The narrative that the Kansas City Chiefs laid down and took it from the Denver Broncos, in an effort to make sure the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t make the playoffs. The Chiefs benched most, if not all, of their primary starters and lost to Bo Nix and Sean Payton, 38-0.
Carson Wentz started instead of Patrick Mahomes as the Broncos clinched their first playoff appearance since winning the Super Bowl in 2015. But you were out of luck if you wanted to see them do so and were outside the Kansas City or Denver area.
Not if you were in Cincinnati, as Bengals fans were likely fuming at the outcome.
But regardless of how you feel about the Chiefs resting their starters on top of already clinching a first-round bye, they earned the right to do so. At 15-1, Week 18 didn’t mean anything to Andy Reid and CO. — it’s why Mahomes and Travis Kelce rode the pine as they saw their backups get throttled.
Kelce had no problem with sitting. Even in a down year, one in which he’s hauled in 97 receptions for 823 yards with three receiving touchdowns, Week 18 wasn’t about stat padding; it was about getting out the regular season healthy before the AFC Divisional Round.
Not everyone saw it that way, though.
And with the Chiefs on a bye, Kelce joined his brother Jason on their New Heights podcast and took issue with the narratives formulated. And the fact that he addressed them means that either he, Jason, or their podcast production team saw the allegations of the Chiefs leaning into an “ass-kicking” to avoid Joe Burrow in the playoffs.
“Omg, the Chiefs are scared of the Bengals! That’s why they lost on purpose!”
Travis Kelce: pic.twitter.com/uzcVjfVJsV
— Keaton (@kjonesy1587) January 8, 2025
“I ain’t scared of f*cking nobody,” Travis said. “I wanted them in the f*cking playoffs. I want to slay every dragon one by one, like Mortal Kombat. I don’t even want this to be we play the lowest seed. Just give me the best teams — AFC, NFC. Give me all of them, Mortal Kombat style. I’ll go through every f*cking one of them, just giving it my best f*cking effort. I ain’t scared of a single soul, man.”
When Jason quipped that Travis (and the Chiefs) didn’t want to see the Bengals at ‘Burrowhead’ or Cincinnati, Travis confidently said he’d gladly take on the Bengals in the local Walmart parking lot.
“I don’t give a sh*t,” he said.
It really gives a new meaning to any time, any place.
“We can have our own game in the offseason when we really duke it out again,” Travis added. “Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun ass f*cking team to watch towards the end of the season.”
The Bengals might have been fun to watch down the stretch, but if they wanted to secure a playoff spot, perhaps they should’ve handled their own business instead of counting on the Chiefs to fight their battles for them.
Kelce’s already fighting plenty of battles as it is.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.