There was a moment, in the second quarter of last night’s Super Bowl, where Travis Kelce screamed at and bumped the Kansas City Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid. It happened right after a Chiefs fumble, and Travis looked mad/upset:
Travis Kelce looked less than enthused pic.twitter.com/yncKhjtNl4
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 12, 2024
There’s a lot of bad faith analysis of this moment, with right-wingers performatively crying about how Travis is “violent” and how the whole incident is Not What Football Is About. While I think it was an emotional moment from Travis, it did not appear that he consciously struck Reid, it was more like he half-accidentally bumped him. Both Reid and Kelce did cleanup on the incident after the Chiefs won, with both men saying that they’re fine and they’re coming back to the Chiefs next season and it’s all good:
The partnership between Andy Reid and Travis Kelce will continue for a 12th season, with both saying after the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII that they would return for another season rather than retire.
Their relationship went through another rough patch in the second quarter. After Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco lost a fumble, Kelce bumped Reid and screamed in his face on the sideline before being led away by running back Jerick McKinnon. This wasn’t the first confrontation between the two and probably won’t be the last, given their plans to return to the Chiefs next season. This one was quite vivid, with Reid almost getting knocked off his feet. He said afterward he appreciated the veteran tight end’s passion.
“He caught me off balance,” Reid said, indicating the contact was worse than it looked. “I wasn’t watching. He was really coming over [and saying], ‘Just put me in, I’ll score. I’ll score.’ So, that’s really what it was. I love that. It’s not the first time. I appreciate him. The part I love is he loves to play the game and he wants to help his team win. It’s not a selfish thing. That’s not what it is. I understand that. As much as he bumps into me, I get after him and we understand that. He just caught me off balance.”
Kelce said his emotions got the better of him.
“I didn’t care about my catches,” he said. “I just wanted to … I wanted the score to be different. Coach has asked us to speak our minds and I just wanted to let him know how much passion I had for this team. He’s one of the best leaders of men I’ve ever seen in my life. And he’s helped me a lot with that, with channeling that emotion, with channeling that passion. I owe my entire career to that guy and being able to kind of control how emotional I get and just love him.”
The Chiefs polished their legacy by outlasting the 49ers. They are the fourth franchise to win three Super Bowl games in five seasons and the first to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 20 years.
“I know this is one of the greatest teams of all time, to go back-to-back,” Kelce said. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’ve been able to go through three times now and it gets sweeter and sweeter every time. You can call us a dynasty. You can call us whatever you want. I know what we’ve got is something more special than really what you’ve seen in the NFL.”
Yeah, I think it’s fine. Is there something to legitimately critique in good faith? For sure – it did look bad, especially with Travis being dragged away by Jerick McKinnon. But if both men say they’re fine and that it was mostly a passionate misunderstanding, I believe them. It definitely became one of the most meme’d moments, alongside Jason Kelce meeting Ice Spice.
HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON…HER SISTER WAS A WITCH RIGHT? AND WHAT WAS HER SISTER? A PRINCESS, THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST BRO. YOU'RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME THAT I'M WRONG? AM I WRONG? SHE WORE A CROWN AND SHE CAME DOWN IN A BUBBLE pic.twitter.com/WZjyFWIAgH
— John Foley (@2008Philz) February 12, 2024
The Mocking of Christ, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1880, 📸 via @BleacherReport pic.twitter.com/Pelq6S4RzU
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) February 12, 2024
Andy Reid says Travis Kelce caught him off balance with his shove, told Reid to put him in and he’d score.
Travis credited Andy not only as play caller but also for helping him learn to manage his emotions. “I owe entire my career to that guy.” pic.twitter.com/d9Lt7pZBle
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) February 12, 2024
Photos courtesy of Getty.
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