Travis Kelce turned in the best performance of his career versus Texans

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is already on a Hall of Fame trajectory and he turned in the best performance of his life against the Texans.

Here’s something that seems a bit odd to say: Travis Kelce just turned in the single best performance of his career.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end already finds himself on a trajectory toward Canton, Ohio with his steady stream of production at a position that has never known such a reliable force. Even this season, Kelce has set new NFL marks for most consecutive 1,000 yard receiving seasons with four and it feels relatively safe to assume that he’ll give that record a much higher ceiling before all is said and done on his career.

At this point, Kelce is widely considered to be arguably the best tight end in the game. He used to jostle with Rob Gronkowski for that title earlier in his career. Now it’s George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers. Either way, Kelce has cemented his place among the NFL’s elite for the last half-decade. And now, after 500 career catches and 5 Pro Bowls, Kelce has just now put up the single best performance of his career.

If you watched the Chiefs bounce back from a 24-0 deficit to defeat the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, you’ll likely be quick to recall just how instrumental Kelce was in that game. After the Chiefs were down by (at least) three possessions coming into the second quarter, Patrick Mahomes and Kelce would find a way to put up three scores together en route to a Chiefs halftime lead.

Just like that, Kelce had given Mahomes a reliable end zone target and put up 3 touchdowns in slightly more than 10 minutes. All season long, Kelce only had 5 touchdowns for the Chiefs despite catching 97 passes. On Sunday, he had 3 scores among his 10 catches.

For all of his production, Kelce had never once scored more than two touchdowns in a single game. Furthermore, the 10 catches for 134 yards would also stand alongside his best games ever. The receiving yardage would be good for fifth all time in his career (with a personal best of 168 yards set against the Oakland Raiders late last year). Meanwhile the 10 catches would be tied for fourth-most ever.

After only scoring 2 touchdowns in his entire postseason history, Kelce is now up to 5 in his career with an inspired effort on Sunday against the Texans that proved just what a dangerous mismatch he can be. Despite so much experience and the fact that he just turned 30-years-old, Kelce showcased an even higher level of play on Sunday than what we’d ever seen before.

Kelce, it appears, has even more left in the tank than anyone could have predicted and it likely means the Hall of Fame will come calling for him one day if he can maintain his current level of annual production for at least a bit longer.