How the Kansas City Chiefs can become a “real” Super Bowl contender

Humble Travis Kelce

At press time, Travis Kelce was the talk of the league after publicly deriding Carl Cheffers’ officiating crew following Sunday night’s loss. Tackle Eric Fisher was flagged for offensive holding in a play that eventually wiped the Chiefs successful two-point conversion off the scoreboard. Back in the locker room, the fourth-year man out of Cincinnati didn’t mince words about the call.

"“For it to end like that, with the referee literally taking it out of our hands, that hurts,” Kelce said. “You try to play this game with integrity, to the end of the whistle, and when the refs want to take over the game and make it their own platform, there’s nothing you can do about it. That wasn’t a hold on my guy Eric Fisher. I hope [Fisher] doesn’t go the entire offseason thinking it was his fault. That was horses—, flat out.”"

You’d expect such an impassioned plea from a player who left everything on the field. The irony here is that Kelce was as much a contributor to Kansas City dropping the game as any officiating gaffe. For the record, it was a legitimate call. There’s some thought that perhaps you don’t allow a call like that to decide a postseason game that late in regulation, but the call itself is tough to argue with. The problem here is the fact that Kelce himself dropped a pass deep in Steelers territory and then promptly cost his team 15 yards with an ill-advised decision to retaliate against a defender.

Next season, the Kansas City Chiefs need to draw the curtain on Kelce’s pursuit of Hollywood lights. The front office has given him a contract extension that pays him like an elite tight end. It’s time to give him the space to become one. Kelce went to great lengths to build his brand in 2016. The Chiefs must demand he place his pursuit of greater visibility and marketability secondary to maturing into a more reliable football player.