NEW ORLEANS – You could’ve listened to Taylor Swift’s entire “The Tortured Poets Department” album – bonus tracks, too – in the amount of time it took for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to catch a pass Sunday in Super Bowl 59.
Kelce and his quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, lacked any of their usual alchemy in a 40-22 disintegration at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles. Mahomes didn’t connect with his favorite target until the third quarter, by which point the Eagles’ rout was in full motion.
A brutal night, really, for Kelce, and Eagles fans showed no mercy. When the video board showed Kelce’s superstar girlfriend, Swift, in the first half, Eagles fans booed. Swift looked perplexed by the crowd’s response.
Don’t worry, Tay, that’s just Eagles fans. They booed the Chiefs’ cheerleaders, too, when they weren’t joyously singing another round of “Fly, Eagles, Fly!”
Mahomes and Kelce might hear that earworm in their sleep.
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Patrick Mahomes weighs in on Travis Kelce’s future
Could this really be how Kelce’s incredible career ends?
Mahomes chimed in on the swirling rumors about Kelce’s playing future. A pregame report from the NFL Network hinted at possible retirement for Kelce, 35.
“He’s given so much to this team and to the NFL and been such a joy, not only for me to work with, but for people to watch,” Mahomes said, while adding that he’d leave it to Kelce to more specifically address his future. “He knows he still has a lot of football left in him. You can see it …, but it’s if he wants to put in that grind. It’s a grind to go out there and play 20 games, or whatever it is, and get to the Super Bowl.’
Kelce was not among the Chiefs players to come to the postgame interview room. He spoke briefly with a few reporters in the locker room, saying the blowout ranked as the Chiefs’ worst showing of the season.
Mahomes didn’t paint a rosier picture. He’s now 3-2 in his Super Bowl starts, with this defeat joining the Chiefs’ loss to Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl 55.
In both that game and this one, the Chiefs’ offensive line failed to adequately protect Mahomes, and he struggled under harassment.
How did this game compare to that loss to the Bucs?
“Both sucked,” Mahomes said.
Patrick Mahomes points to turnovers to explain Chiefs’ loss
Mahomes shouldered the blame for this result, pointing to his two first-half interceptions that gift-wrapped 14 points for Philadelphia. The Eagles put him under frequent pressure without needing to blitz, and, in Mahomes’ assessment, he made matters worse by forcing some throws.
“I can’t make bad plays worse,” he said.
Asked about Mahomes’ night, Chiefs receiver DeAndre Hopkins put it best: “He’s human.”
Even if he’d previously supplied superhuman performances.
It would have helped if Mahomes’ tight end had delivered more of a vintage effort.
In a fit of frustration during last year’s Super Bowl, Kelce bumped into Andy Reid on the sideline while giving his coach an earful. Reid joked it off after that Super Bowl 58 triumph against the 49ers in overtime, in which Kelce caught nine passes. A little more sideline fire might have helped on this night. The Chiefs never found a rhythm, with the line unable to protect Mahomes and the deficit mounting quickly. Kansas City offense had just 20 plays in the first half and moved the chains just one time before Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance.
Mahomes targeted Kelce twice in the first half. Neither toss found the mark. Kelce finished with four receptions to give him 35 catches in five Super Bowl appearances, making him the career record holder and moving him past Jerry Rice, who had the previous high with 33.
Any conversation of the greatest tight ends ever must include Kelce in the debate.
“He’s done enough to be a gold jacket guy, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but I know he still has love for the game,” Mahomes said. “He knows he can come back here with welcoming arms.”
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.
