Travis Kelce tunnel footage speaks volumes as Kansas City Chiefs hit new low

Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs were knocked out of NFL play-off contention with three games of the regular season to go, coming as a huge blow to their campaign.

Travis Kelce cut a devastated figure walking through the tunnel after the Kansas City Chiefs fell to a 16-13 defeat against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. The defeat means that the Chiefs are now unable to qualify for the NFL play-offs this season, the first time they have done so since 2014.

In that time, the side have managed to win three Super Bowls – as well as five AFC Championships – cementing their dominance at the top. Plenty of that success has come with Kelce in the line-up, driving them forward as a regular starter since 2014, while being present for all three Super Bowl wins.

While there has been major success, the 36-year-old has also faced questions about whether he will retire at the end of the season. He’ already responded by saying he will address that at the end of the campaign, putting aside any talk of this being his final campaign, but the new low for the Chiefs has raised those questions, once again.

READ MORE: Taylor Swift’s ‘genius’ PR strategy behind Travis Kelce engagement and albumREAD MORE: Erin Andrews hits back at claims she’s ‘under fire’ as FOX NFL star shown support

With the weekend defeat to the Chargers confirming the Chiefs won’t be in the play-offs, even with three games of the regular season to go, there was plenty of devastation. Kelce was among those visibly upset by the result, as footage from the tunnel showed him walking back to the locker room.

It remains to be seen whether the serial winner will decide to stay on – or whether he will hang up his boots and call it a day. However, he isn’t the only Chiefs star who is facing doubts over his future in the NFL.

Patrick Mahomes is another who could leave the Chiefs, while uncertainty surrounds his future, following a major knee injury. The quarter-back picked up an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, which is all-set to leave him side-lined and out of action for a long time.

The 30-year-old was forced off in the final few minutes of the match on Sunday, with the severity of the problem revealed shortly after. “Don’t know why this had to happen,” he said on social media after the game.

“Not going to lie, this hurts. But all we can do now is Trust in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you Chiefs kingdom for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I will be back stronger than ever.”

The Chiefs now have games against the Tennessee Titans, the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders before the end of the season. With a losing streak of three and the play-offs now out of the window, they will be looking to end the season on a high with some wins.

“Guys are down,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said on the locker room reaction to the defeat on Sunday night. “They busted their butt to win the game, I wouldn’t expect anything less. It’s not a great feeling, but I wouldn’t expect it to be after losing a game.”

In all, though, it was a series of mistakes that continued to let the team down, as he continued: “All in all, we came up short. We had a few mistakes, and that ends up costing you against a good football team… They battled. Wasn’t for a lack of effort or battling, just had some mistakes that cost us.

“We’ve got to do better. Get opportunities in the red zone or field position, you’ve gotta take advantage of that. With special teams, we gotta create field position, and then defensively, we’ve gotta maintain it.

“And so in those cases, we weren’t quite good enough – and in all three phases. Again that’s my responsibility to make sure that you don’t have these kinds of mistakes, and so I’ll look in the mirror first on this.”

With Kelce’s future still undecided, it remains to be seen what choice he will make before the end of the season surrounding a potential retirement.