Five ups and downs from an uncomfortable Chiefs win in Houston

Up: Travis Kelce catches fire

Coming into this game, there was a bit of a frustrating streak of events for Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce—a statement that might sound strange given the overall excellent season that he’s enjoyed. Fortunately, it felt like Kelce also came alive in the second quarter after taking a silly flag from Carl Cheffers’ crew that snapped him out of whatever funk he’d been in as he caught 10 passes for 105 yards.

While Kelce has put up another 1,000-yard season in the face of losing his teammate Tyreek Hill in the offseason, Kelce also hasn’t looked like himself for the last several quarters. From a fumble that was partially to blame for a loss against the Cincinnati Bengals to catching only 4 of 9 targets last week in a too-close-for-comfort win over the Denver Broncos, Kelce has failed to live up to the dominant reputation he’s earned for the last several seasons now in recent weeks.

In Week 15, however, Kelce looked like his former self once again. On a tough contested catch in the second quarter, he was flagged for unnecessary roughness. The catch was followed by a burst of emotion and it felt like it could serve as a turning point for the game. Of course, the Chiefs would go on to turn the ball over and the defense would fail to get off the field, which allowed the Texans to stay in it but the offensive ineptitude was at least gone at that point which allowed K.C. to keep pace with the Texans. (Those last few words sound weird.)