Chiefs’ Travis Kelce says Super Bowl LV loss left ‘a sour taste in my mouth’
Tight end Travis Kelce is the last remaining player to be on the roster during Andy Reid’s first season as Chiefs coach.
The message from Reid’s first day, Kelce said, remains the same: get to the Super Bowl and win it.
During an interview Monday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Kelce talked about the culture Reid has created in Kansas City.
“I think it was Super Bowl or bust my first year with the Kansas City Chiefs,” Kelce said. “That’s just kind of been Coach Reid’s mind-set. He presents that challenge to everybody in the building. it goes from every player to every coach to even the front office side of things. If we’re not winning Super Bowls, if we’re not going to the Super Bowl, it’s a failure. It is what it is.
“With that mind-set, with the end goal being that, you have no choice but to keep getting better and to keep striving for greatness. Sure enough, a sour taste is in my mouth for how the season ended last year. Really just fired up to get things going back in the right direction and just playing football again.”
Kelce said the Chiefs players were surprised by how Super Bowl LV turned out as the offense failed to score a touchdown and the Buccaneers rolled to a 31-9 victory.
A rematch in Super Bowl LVI would suit Kelce just fine.
“I say it like this: ‘You ever just wake up on Sunday and got your ass beat by a bunch of guys you never thought you’d get your ass beat by?’” Kelce said. “That’s exactly what just happened. I mean we never thought that was going to happen. I don’t think the score of that game is true to who we are and where we rank in terms of being a great team and being as good as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was just kind of the situation is what it is, and we have to live with that, we have to try and get better because of it. That’s all we can take from it right now.
“It is what it is. In my mind, hopefully we’re there next year and Tampa Bay’s there next year, so that we can go ahead and go after it again. That’s all that’s really ingrained in my heart right now is just to work your tail off and get back there next year, because what we just put on display, I don’t think that’s our best effort, man.”
McAfee asked Kelce if he’d seen photos of some of the throws Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made while under duress in Super Bowl LV, particularly the pass in which he was parallel to the ground.
Kelce said as motivated as he is to get back to the Super Bowl, it pales in comparison to Mahomes.
“Every time he puts the helmet on, it’s just who he is, it’s ingrained in him to compete, to put everything out there on the line, every single time,” Kelce said. “Pat’s a special guy in terms of that, man, and you know what? It doesn’t sit right that we all went out there and had a game that wasn’t our best game, and I know if anybody’s motivated, 1-5 is more motivated than anybody in the world to get back out there and try and get another Super Bowl and get to another Super Bowl, the third one in a row, man.”
Kelce also was asked about the Chiefs decision to release offensive linemen Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher last week.
He said it’s difficult to see friends leave but is proud of his connection to Reid’s tenure.
“Schwartz, Fisher, I love those guys to death and it ripped my heart out to see those guys go,” Kelce said. “I don’t even know what it means to be an NFL player and not be Eric Fisher’s teammate. We came in the same year, got drafted the same year — the first year that coach Reid stepped his big foot in the building. I think it’s definitely something I cherish, being here all eight years, and for me the be the Last Mohican, the last one standing of the original cast, it’s definitely something prideful, but I’m going to miss the hell out of Fisher, Schwartz and even Anthony Sherman, you guys are familiar with the fullback who just retired.
“We’re going to miss some guys, that’s for dang ol’ sure, but football is going to be played, so we just got to go out there and fire up, man.”
You can watch the entire interview here, but we aware there is some cursing.
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 8:50 AM.
