The back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the game's biggest stage for a third consecutive year.
Success breeds envy and disdain, and these Chiefs are magnets for it. That's no problem to future Pro Football Hall of Famer Travis Kelce, who is embracing the hate.
"I love it. I love it," Kelce said of being a villain on the "New Heights" podcast. "At one point in time, it wasn't that. … I was the 'do you feel bad for 'em guys.' … I'm enjoying doing this with the guys together. The guys that we have in there because it just makes us even more of a family.
"You just circle the wagons. … People are saying whatever they want. You just band together and it makes you appreciate more of what you have because people want what you have."
Kansas City is in the rare place in which they can point to their two most recent Lombardi Trophies -- two of three won since the 2019 season -- as argument-ending proof of their excellence. Kelce is no different; he racked up seven straight seasons of 1,000-plus receiving yards between 2016 and 2022, and despite a lower output in each of the last two campaigns, he remains a key part of a Chiefs offense that has once again won the AFC title.
That's a place every other team in their conference would like to occupy. But since the 2019 season, only two have owned that title: Kansas City and Cincinnati, with the latter standing as the only AFC counterpart to defeat the Chiefs in the postseason during that span.
Because it's easy to dislike a consistent winner, the Chiefs will head to New Orleans as the villain. Those who are tired of Kansas City's success will be pulling for the Eagles, the former employer of Travis' older brother, Jason Kelce, who last met the Chiefs in the Super Bowl two years ago.
Kelce and his Chiefs teammates will take the field with the same goal in mind: Win another Lombardi Trophy for Kansas City. This time, a win will mean a place in history -- and the sweetest mic drop of all for Kelce.
