KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce stared down at his fingertips while resting elbows on his knees, a grass stain stretching from knee to hip on his white pants.
It was minutes after the Chiefs’ 20-10 home loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium, when Kelce remained transfixed at his corner locker near the entrance to the team shower while still in full uniform. He scratched the ring finger on his right hand, keeping his gaze there for a few seconds before shifting his position once again.
His head tilted downward, and he pressed all 10 fingers into the crown of his head, leaving both hands there while lowering his gaze toward the floor.
Kelce — a 36-year-old future Pro Football Hall of Famer, one of the faces of the greatest dynasties in NFL history — said nothing, remaining alone with his thoughts as he tried to process everything that had just happened.
That included Sunday, when on a critical fourth-quarter drive, he redirected a catchable pass into the hands of Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for a back-breaking interception.
And also the entire 2025 season, in which a Chiefs team coming off three straight Super Bowl appearances suddenly finds itself with a disappointing, shocking, “How did this happen?” 6-7 record.
Those around Kelce on Sunday night could sense he needed a lift. Tight end Tre Watson came over to slap him on his shoulder pad before walking out. Cornerback Trent McDuffie — a team leader who left Sunday’s game with a hyperextended knee and didn’t return — also patted Kelce on the back, offering a few words of encouragement before heading to the front entrance.
This all painted a much different picture of the Chiefs’ locker room than in any other instance this season. Previously, there had been disappointment. Frustration. But all that quickly rebuilt into a belief that it wasn’t too late for the team to resurrect things.
Kelce’s emotions here, though, showed a change after Sunday’s loss.
And that was the embracing of at least some acceptance — if nothing else — of the reality that this team no longer controls its postseason destiny with four games remaining.
Here’s the math for now: The Athletic’s Playoff Simulator gives the Chiefs a 16 percent chance of making the postseason, though that jumps to 53 percent if they win their final four games.
But even then … K.C. needs a perfect stretch run and have the football gods smile down while a couple of other teams collapse down the stretch.
It’s certainly not a familiar position for a Chiefs team that has made three straight Super Bowls and seven consecutive AFC Championship Games, only to have its nine-year streak of AFC West titles snapped Sunday.
“You’re just getting late in the season,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “and you’re not getting these opportunities back.”
Kelce turned down two interview requests afterward. Receiver Rashee Rice, who also dropped a critical fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter, left the locker room before reporters arrived.
Mahomes said he wouldn’t hesitate to trust either teammate in the future, even after Sunday’s on-field letdowns.
“I’m going to go to those guys in big moments,” Mahomes said. “Those guys have made plays in Super Bowls. They’ve made plays in AFC Championship Games. So obviously it didn’t go our way today. I have a lot to do with that myself.”
Whether he meant to or not, Mahomes got to the crux of a perplexing season for the Chiefs.
How, exactly, has a team built on Super Bowl rings suddenly forgotten how to play in close games? Or struggled to make plays in the biggest moments after going 12-0 in one-score games just a season ago?
The baffling pattern continued Sunday, with the Chiefs failing to capitalize on numerous opportunities to win a game that was tied at 10 entering the fourth quarter.
“You’ve got to be able to make that stuff happen,” Mahomes said, “and we haven’t done that enough this year.”
Fourth down stop for the Texans defense!
HOUvsKC on NBC
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— NFL (@NFL) December 8, 2025
Mahomes certainly gutted it out as much as he could, battling through a left knee injury that he aggravated on a few scrambles. Afterward, Mahomes rubbed that same knee a bit at his locker while trying to provide some short-term relief.
There were other obstacles, too. The Chiefs were down three starting offensive linemen, then lost backup left tackle Wanya Morris on the first offensive snap with a knee injury. Morris didn’t return and was in the locker room on crutches after the game.
It all left Mahomes trying to accomplish a whole lot offensively on his own.
So he ran. A lot. He rushed seven times for 59 yards, nearly doubling the total of any other Chiefs rusher.
But he was also let down. A lot. That included those critical drops by Rice and Kelce, with the latter turning into a game-sealing interception.
“He’s made that play 99 percent of the time,” Mahomes said of Kelce. “And I’ve got to give him a better chance with a ball maybe more on his body.”
Kelce’s bobble was strangely reminiscent of a Week 2 play against Philadelphia, when he redirected a catchable pass to an Eagles defender in the red zone for the biggest momentum-changer in a 20-17 K.C. home loss.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid stood behind both Kelce and Rice after their drops Sunday.
“The ball went through their hands. It happens,” Reid said. “But those guys are great players.”
The miscues — and continuation of this season-long pattern of mistakes — only added to a 2025 Chiefs narrative that is confounding at best.
It’s quite the fall from recent seasons, when the Chiefs were wrapping up division titles around this time. Now, they risk elimination from the playoff race if they lose at home to the Los Angeles Chargers next week.
Mahomes was convinced of this much afterward: His guys weren’t going to quit.
“Regardless of what happens the rest of this season, we’ll give everything we have every snap,” Mahomes said, “and give ourself the best chance to go out there and make a run.”
That didn’t protect Chiefs players from facing the likely inevitability of this 2025 season on Sunday.
For Kelce, it also likely meant thinking about whether he’ll do this for another season at all. Kelce’s contract runs out at the end of this season, and he’s yet to say whether he’ll return to football for a 14th season in 2026.
Maybe that was on his mind in the somber Chiefs locker room as he dropped his face into his hands at 10:56 p.m., still stinging from his team’s latest defeat.
This much is certain: Kelce didn’t envision the 2025 season going this way. Even if his quarterback vows not to let anyone give up on the dream of this season — at least not yet.
“I do know one thing,” Mahomes said of Kelce. “He’ll give everything he has the rest of this season to try to give us a chance to make a playoff run.”
