The Kansas City Chiefs were riding on a perfect run in the 2024 NFL season until Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills handed them their first loss of the year on Sunday. However, the result hasn’t changed the way Travis Kelce sees his team.
Speaking with his brother Jason during the latest episode of their “New Heights” podcast, the veteran tight end made it clear that he still believes the Chiefs are better than the Bills—which is why Kelce warned about a potential rematch.
“Sometimes you just need that smack in the face,” Kelce said about Sunday’s loss in Buffalo, before warning Allen and company. “It is what it is. Sometimes you need a smack in the face to be able to lock in and know that it’s an ‘Any Given Sunday’ type of league. And (I’m) not saying that (Bills) team was just any other team, but I do believe we have better players, and if we get another shot at that team, I definitely get excited about it.”
The Chiefs lost by nine points at Highmark Stadium, where the Bills led for much of the game. Still, Buffalo couldn’t feel relieved until late in the fourth quarter, when Allen came up with a 26-yard rushing touchdown to allow the hosts to lead by two scores.
Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs heads to the locker room after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 17-10 at SoFi Stadium on September 29, 2024 in Inglewood, California.
Recent history between Bills and Chiefs
This was the fourth time Allen led Buffalo to victory against Kansas City in the regular season, improving to 4-1. Things have been different when they met in the postseason, though.
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Patrick Mahomes and Kelce are 3-0 against the Bills in playoff games, and two of those victories led to Super Bowl triumphs. Additionally, the last two times the Chiefs lost to the Bills in the regular season, they went on to win the championship.
Kelce names Bills as one of the toughest NFL teams to play against
But at the end of the day, these are the kinds of games the Chiefs want to win to test themselves before the NFL playoffs. Kelce made that clear to dismiss the idea that Kansas City only wanted to stay unbeaten.
“You don’t think about, ‘Oh, I really want to win this game so I can remain undefeated.’ No, we want to win this game because we have a lot of really close football games against the Buffalo Bills, and we love competing against them because they’re one of the best teams in the league,” Travis said. “Like, I get fired up playing against the best teams in the National Football League. And I was fired up for this one, and I didn’t play my best. And that pisses me off, and it made me, you know, go right back into work on Monday after the game and get after it.”
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Kelce’s warning to Chiefs teammates
Kelce believes everyone in Kansas City should take a look at what needs to be improved after this loss. Therefore, the 35-year-old had a clear reminder for all his teammates ahead of Week 12. Of course, Kelce was also self-critical.
“I don’t give a (expletive) how your body’s feeling,” Kelce added. “I don’t give a (expletive) where your mentality is off the field when you step into that building. We are here to figure (expletive) out, and we are here to get better as football players for the football team. I think that is a mentality going forward that everybody has to be a part of top down. And I think myself included, I’ve got to be the leader that I’ve been in the past and hold myself accountable so that everybody sees how it’s done. Knowing that we got a lot of new faces and a lot of rookies and whatnot.”
