Travis Kelce has no time for the narrative that the Kansas City Chiefs rested many of their starters against the Denver Broncos in Week 18 in order to throw the game and keep the Cincinnati Bengals out of the playoffs.
On the “New Heights” podcast, Jason Kelce brought up that speculation to his brother, the star Chiefs tight end, who completely denied the allegation.
“I ain’t scared of f—ing nobody,” Travis Kelce said. “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,” Kelce added. “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.”
Travis Kelce on whether the Chiefs intentionally lost to keep the Bengals out of the playoffs: pic.twitter.com/QJSzUnb5rV
— Cincinnati 💔 (@CincyProblems) January 8, 2025
The Bengals finished the season at 9-8 after five straight victories and career years from Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase but needed losses by the Miami Dolphins and the Denver Broncos to make the playoffs. Miami lost 32-20 to the New York Jets, but the Broncos (10-7) defeated the Chiefs, 38-0 to clinch the final AFC wild-card spot.
After the Bengals defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 in their season finale last Saturday night, head coach Zac Taylor said the rest of the NFL was “not going to want us in this tournament, I promise you.”
The Bengals beat the Chiefs in overtime 27-24 in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium after the 2021 season to reach the Super Bowl and then played them tough again in the next season’s AFC title game, losing 23-20. Before that loss, Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton called the Chiefs’ home “Burrowhead.”
“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.”
The Chiefs finished the season 15-2 have a bye this week as the AFC’s top seed.
