Travis Kelce was better off retiring than watching Chiefs’ dynasty get destroyed

Not even another Travis Kelce touchdown could save the Chiefs.

Kansas City’s dynasty keeps cracking, and the 36-year-old Kelce is six games away from retirement if this continues.

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“You’ve just got to win every game now,” said Patrick Mahomes, after the Chiefs fell 31-28 to the surging Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving before a crowd of 93,739 at AT&T Stadium.

“I hope that’s enough. We’re going to play a lot of good ball teams coming up. If we’re going to make the playoffs, we’re going to have to win ’em all. That’s got to be the mindset when we step into the building when we get back.”

End could be near for famous No. 87

Kelce has spent the last two offseasons teasing retirement.

He sounds undecided, steps away and goes quiet, then magically returns for one more shot at another round of NFL glory.

It’s not his fault that Kansas City is a flat 6-6 and can’t win close games anymore.

But, as a team, the Chiefs sound desperate and look beatable now.

“Our ceiling is playing in the Super Bowl,” said Mahomes, on a night when the world watched Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott outplay the face of the NFL.

“We’ve got all the same guys and we added players. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to go out and do it on a week in and week out basis. We can beat anybody, but we’ve shown that we can lose to anybody.”

Those last words say it all about the state of Andy Reid, Kelce, Mahomes and whatever is left of the Chiefs’ dynasty.

Kansas City thrived in 2024 by barely surviving.

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The Chiefs won super-close games and surreal thrillers, and it was cool to call KC the ‘luckiest team in the NFL.’

Super Bowl experience was supposed to push Kelce’s crew over the top in New Orleans vs the unproven Philadelphia Eagles.

Then Jalen Hurts outplayed Mahomes — that’s become a trend for the heir to Tom Brady — and Kelce watched his team get destroyed in Super Bowl LIX.

Chiefs were exposed in Super Bowl disaster

“Couldn’t find a lick of momentum. I’m kicking myself for some of the tiny, tiny decisions I made on the field,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast.

“I wasn’t the best leader I could be in motivating my guys and keeping my guys calm, cool and collected.

“I put a lot of that on myself as the guy that’s been in the building for 12 years and seen a lot of football and actually seen a situation just like this in the Super Bowl.”

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15. Kansas City Chiefs (6-6)

Kansas City is in trouble.

The last time the Chiefs lost more than six games (9-7 in 2014), they failed to make the playoffs.

Patrick Mahomes said Kansas City needs to win out but the Texans, Chargers and Broncos will have something to say about that.

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Kelce had five catches for 45 yards against the Cowboys, and his first-quarter TD was the 82nd of a superb career that will surely end up in the Hall of Fame.

But losing to the Cowboys on worldwide TV and falling to 6-6 is the exact opposite of why Kelce returned to the NFL for one more ride.

Kelce and Chiefs have lost their edge

The 13-year veteran is still good, but no longer elite.

Dallas had the better QB and offense on Thursday night, and it was 31-21 Cowboys with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter while the Chiefs hoped for a Week 13 miracle.

It never arrived, and Kelce’s team is now publicly stating that it must win every game just to make the playoffs.

“I mean, credit to them (Dallas),” Mahomes. “They changed up things. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to execute at a higher level.

Why Kelce returned for 2025 season

Travis Kelce on postponing retirement for one more year:

“I just had a sour taste in my mouth immediately, and like, man, this cannot be the last game,” Kelce said on Bussin With the Boys, after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss to the Eagles.

“I still feel like I can do it. And I kind of wanted to give myself that full focus when I kind of looked at the year in review and how I got ready for the year and things like that.”

He added: “It is the last one on the contract. I am focused on this one. I do not know what next year is going to feel like. I do not know what I am going to feel like in March and April of next year, when I make that decision, or I try to figure out what is next for me.”

“Penalties killed some drives. That’s the stuff that we’ve got to be better at. That’s the kind of stuff that we’ve done all year long. … So, whenever you get 10, 11 or whatever it was penalties, that usually hurts you at the end of the day.”

Kelce spent the week leading up to Kansas City’s latest defeat again discussing retirement.

“I want to give the Chiefs a good opportunity, whether I come back or not — or whether they want me back or not,” he said. “I’d like to make that decision before they’ve got to get draft picks and free agency opens to fill the roster appropriately.

“All that will be at the end of the season. I won’t be thinking about it until then.”

Kansas City hasn’t been this average 2014, which was Kelce’s second year as a pro and first season as a starter.

The Chiefs have gone full circle with No. 87.

Barring a 2025 miracle, one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history is better off starting his storybook life with Taylor Swift than watching Kansas City focus more on the draft than the Super Bowl.

Kelce has been too good for too long to finish his career on an average NFL team.

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