With a roster full of backups, the Chiefs ended their 2024 regular season on the losing end of a blowout in Denver.
The defeat granted the Broncos their first trip to the postseason since 2015. Kansas City sat its starters because, as the AFC's top seed, it had nothing to play for. But that didn't prevent plenty of skeptics from suggesting the Chiefs surrendered to the Broncos in order to prevent the Cincinnati Bengals -- who needed the Broncos to lose in order to make the playoffs -- from making the playoffs and potentially standing in the way of the Chiefs' third straight AFC title.
Travis Kelce scoffed at such a thought Wednesday.
"I ain't scared of f---ing nobody," the veteran tight end said on his New Heights podcast, via ESPN. "I wanted them in the f---ing playoffs. I want to slay every dragon one by one, like Mortal Kombat. I don't even want this to be like we play the lowest seed. Just give me the best teams."
"AFC, NFC, give me all of them, Mortal Kombat-style. I'll go through every f---ing one of them just giving them my best f---ing effort. I ain't scared of a single soul, man."
The tone of Kelce's response says it all. In order for the Chiefs to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, they don't want a single gift. They want it to be earned, just like their last two.
"I'll play them at the Walmart parking lot," Kelce said. "I don't give a s---. We can have our own game in the offseason where we really duke it out.
"Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun-ass f---ing team to watch there towards the end of the season, and it's a shame they didn't make it in the playoffs, because they would have made the playoffs that much f---ing crazier and that much more fun."
Kelce is right. Cincinnati was an incredibly entertaining team to watch for much of 2024, riding a high-powered offense out of necessity just to stay in games while its defense struggled mightily. By the time the Bengals figured it out on that side of the ball, they needed to win out and get help in order to reach the playoffs.
When it became clear the Chiefs wouldn't offer much resistance to the Broncos, Cincinnati's playoff dreams died.
Kansas City's dream, however, is just getting started. It just won't include the Bengals, much to Kelce's disappointment.
