Winner: Travis Kelce
At this point, Chiefs Kingdom is out of ways to speak of Travis Kelce’s greatness. We’ve oohed and aahed over the highlight reel catches he consistently makes. We’ve marveled at the records he continues to set with each passing season. We’ve lauded his ability to create mismatches against any team, any defensive scheme, any star defender assigned to him.
But in a game like this one, even a heartbreaking loss, we need a way to talk about Kelce even more, because no one on offense was trustworthy other than Kelce (for the most part). And it’s sad that it all came in a losing effort.
The Chargers were keyed in on slowing or stopping both Tyreek Hill and Kelce, yet somehow Kelce was able to break through with a 7-catch, 104-yard effort on the day. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, and yet on a day when so many others were either unable to make plays or were busy coughing up the football, Kelce was a reliable outlet for Patrick Mahomes and the offense time and again.
Without Kelce, this game would have been a total train wreck. There were few winners today, but Kelce’s weekly reminder of his greatness was at least something to smile about.