If Thursday night was the last game Travis Kelce played inside Arrowhead Stadium, he sure tried to make it a memorable one.
The Chiefs tight end only had five catches for 36 yards against Denver, playing alongside third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun while his good buddy Patrick Mahomes and backup Gardner Minshew were out with knee injuries. But several of those catches came in the closing minutes, nearly rallying Kansas City in what would have been a stunning upset of the Broncos.
Kelce and Co. wound up losing 20-13 in a game in which they were nearly two-touchdown underdogs.
But it was a gutsy display by him in a career filled with them.
The four-time All-Pro, who is expected to announce soon after the season whether he is retiring, could have hung up the cleats a couple of weeks ago, when the reigning AFC champions were eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in a decade.
Instead, after going to five Super Bowls — including the last three — and winning three championship rings, the 36-year-old Kelce showed that he had too much pride to quit on a lost season. He played in a humiliating loss to lowly Tennessee last week, and he was one of the few bright spots Thursday night for an offense that finished with 139 yards in all.
“A whole lot of emotions,” Kelce said afterward. “You’ve got everybody in the world watching you. You get to go out there with the young guys on primetime television. Young guys getting an opportunity to taste what this NFL life is like.”
As for retirement?
“I’ll let that be a decision I’ll make with my family, friends, the Chiefs organization when the time comes,” Kelce said.
He was the final player introduced Thursday night, following Oladokun out of the tunnel in the corner of Arrowhead Stadium. As red lights flashed across the field, Kelce emerged from the fog with his signature bow-and-arrow entrance gesture toward a festive holiday crowd, and it predictably roared in delight — perhaps for the last time — as No. 87 took the field.
“You only get a few of those (moments) where you get to stand there and appreciate 60, 70-thousand Chiefs fans cheering for you,” Kelce said. “I always embrace that moment.”
In a suite high above, his fiancee, pop star Taylor Swift, watched him perform. So did Mahomes and Minshew, who took in the game together from a suite; Mahomes tore ligaments in his knee two weeks ago, Minshew did the same last week.
“You feel the generations of happiness and the love that (the fans) have,” Kelce said. “It’s a beautiful thing, man. It’s something I know I’ll cherish forever, whether it’s coming out of the tunnel or just making a big play for them. That’s why we love Arrowhead.”
Kelce has played 97 games inside the stadium over the course of a 13-year career. He caught 645 passes there, including playoffs, the third-most by any player inside a single stadium behind Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald since the AFL-NFL merger.
Now, the question is whether Kelce will play next week in the Chiefs’ season finale in Las Vegas.
He needs just 10 yards receiving to reach 13,000 for his career, and he could extend his franchise record — and the longest active streak in the NFL — by catching a pass in his 191st game next weekend. He could also go out with a win, rather than having lost five straight and seven of his last eight games, which is the slide the Chiefs find themselves on now.
Or, maybe he will surprise everyone and come back for one more year.
“We’ve been through so much together,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said, making his desire clear. “Just one more (season). Just one more.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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