Travis Kelce enjoyed one of the greatest seasons ever by a tight end, setting a record with 1,416 receiving yards to go along with 11 TDs and 105 catches -- all career highs.
After becoming the first tight end to earn 1,000 yards in five straight seasons, Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs fell short of back-to-back Super Bowl wins, losing the Lombardi to Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The All-Pro told SiriusXM NFL Radio that the final loss made all the statistical greatness meaningless in his eyes.
"I took a note from the (Chicago) Bulls when they were winning their (NBA) championships and had their run. It don't mean a thing if you ain't got the ring, baby," he said. "All those accolades, all that stuff, it might be cool when I'm sitting down on a couch watching the young guys trying to chase the record, but right now, none of that really meant anything. Last year was a failure to me, to be honest. It just is. That's just what I have in my heart. That's the type of player I am, man. If we're not going out there winning Super Bowls, man, the season isn't a success."
For some players like Kelce, a season is as black-and-white as that: pass or fail. Fortunately, for the prolific TE, he plays on a team with perennial Super Bowl aspirations. It would be interesting to juxtapose his response to such a question in, say, 2014, before Patrick Mahomes' arrival, the Chiefs' Super Bowl LIV victory and sky-high expectations dropped into Kansas City. Perhaps his perspective would have been the same. Perhaps slightly more shaded in gray.
For now, Kelce plays on a team that expects to be a Super Bowl winner each season with its current core. His comments underscore those beliefs with a bright highlighter.
