NEW ORLEANS — If this was the final game of Travis Kelce’s career, it was an ugly one.
What started with a telling moment – his famous girlfriend Taylor Swift getting booed by Eagles fans when she was shown on the scoreboard – only became a worse night for the power couple.
Kelce didn’t catch a pass on two targets in the first half as his buddy Patrick Mahomes completely imploded with two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and the Chiefs fell behind by 24 points in what became a 40-22 loss in Super Bowl 2025.
Kelce, 35, is coming off full-time career lows of 823 receiving yards and three touchdowns during the regular season.
After a one-game revival in the AFC Divisional round, Kelce was held in check in the last two games.
Super Bowl 59 marked the first time in his 25-game playoff career that he had zero receptions in the first half.
The first one didn’t come until 3:24 remaining in the third quarter – and the 8-yarder on third-and-13 just momentarily delayed a turnover on downs.
He finished with 39.
While Kelce has indicated that his love for football hasn’t waned, there is a pull of another lifestyle with Swift and other opportunities as he sees his brother, former Eagles star Jason Kelce, thriving in a media role during his first year of retirement.
He hasn’t completely shut down retirement talk.
“Where will I be in three years? Oh man, I don’t know. Hopefully still playing football,” Kelce said earlier this week. “I love doing this, I love coming into work every day and I feel like I still got a lot of good football left in me, but we’ll see what happens.”
It would have been a Cinderella story for Kelce to go on top, as a core member of the NFL’s first 3-peat winner in the Super Bowl era.
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Instead, the Chiefs’ bid to win back-to-back-to-back championships was denied and the much-less-famous Brandon Graham – an all-time great Eagle who announced that he was retiring after the season and then overcame a triceps injury to return to the Super Bowl – got the fairytale ending.
Kelce reportedly was “moved to tears” during his pre-Super Bowl speech to teammates Saturday night.
Was that because he knows the end is near or because he just normally wears his emotions on his sleeve?
“It’s moments like these, weeks like these, the month that we just had in the playoffs that make me feel like I could play this game forever,” Kelce said during the week. “I think I still got a lot of football left in me.”
Moments like Sunday’s are painful, however.
Whenever Kelce retires, the five-year eligibility clock will start on a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
