The Kansas City Chiefs got their asses handed to them at the Super Bowl. While I don’t know much about football, I know the Philadelphia Eagles dog-walked the Chiefs and it looked like the Chiefs had no idea what they were doing out there. What was the problem? Was it a choke? Did Patrick Mahomes just get outplayed? Or was Travis Kelce sick during the game and that affected the whole team? The Chiefs GM now says that Travis was “battling a pretty big illness” ahead of the game. O RLY?
Travis Kelce was fighting a “big illness” before his Super Bowl defeat. Brett Veach, 47, General Manager of Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, spoke about the issues facing the tight end in the run-up to the game on an upcoming episode of the NFL podcast, The Insiders.
Noting that he wasn’t “making excuses” for the Chiefs’ loss, Veach said that Kelce was “battling a pretty big illness” before the Super Bowl, which took place on Feb. 9, in New Orleans.
He then quipped that Kelce’s illness didn’t make much difference to the score as the Eagles — who won 40-22 — played so well. “We didn’t have the end to our season that we hoped for,” he added. Touching on the loss, Veach admitted that the Chiefs had “picked a bad day to have a bad day.” But he said that the team would use the experience as “motivation to get better.”
“You learn more from your losses than your wins,” Veach added.
The Chiefs boss then addressed the swirling rumors that Kelce, 35, is set to retire. When asked if the star would return for the 2025 season, Veach said, “I think so. We anticipate Travis being back. We’re excited to have Travis back.”
He also noted that Kelce shares a unique relationship with “Pat” — quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 29 — and revealed that he “finds a way to stay in shape and produce at a level that only he can.” “He makes us better when he’s in our locker room and on our field and we’re excited to get him back,” Veach continued, adding that Kelce had “accomplished everything that there is in this game.”
That’s interesting that the GM believes Kelce will be back. As for the “big illness”… I wonder. While Travis stayed inside the night before the game, on Friday night (Feb. 7), he went out to dinner with Taylor Swift in New Orleans. People Mag carried exclusive photos. Was he ill that night, or did the illness hit afterwards? Now I wonder if they’re talking about food poisoning? It would actually fit the timeline if Travis was fine Friday night, or well enough to go out to a restaurant with Taylor. My other theory is that his head hurt from that Turkish hair transplant!!! All I know is that Travis had a weirdly full mane on game day but maybe it was painful!
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
