The Kansas City Chiefs are celebrating the franchise's third title in five years after taking down the San Francisco 49ers in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII. While they did ultimately hoist the Lombardi Trophy, things were a bit uneasy for the eventual back-to-back champs, particularly in the first half where they struggled to move the football. That frustration bubbled up in what turned out to be a viral sideline exchange between Travis Kelce and Andy Reid where the tight end bumped and yelled in the head coach's face.
In the first half, Kelce was limited to just a single reception but exploded in the second half to finish the game with nine catches for 93 yards. When asked about the exchange postgame, Kelce and Reid both joked about it and basked in the celebration of winning this latest title. After a few days had passed, Travis and his brother Jason Kelce spoke more in-depth about the moment during their latest edition of the "New Heights" podcast.
For his part, Travis acknowledged that he instantly regretted his actions.
"I immediately wish I took it back," he admitted. "Coach Reid actually came right up to me after that and he just let me know, 'Hey man, I love your passion. I got cameras on me all over the place, man.' ... Just fired me up even more to go out there and get a (expletive) victory for him, man. Big Red, sorry if I caught you with that cheap shot, baby. But damn I love winning with you."
Jason and Trav shared their real thoughts on the sideline moment with Coach Reid pic.twitter.com/npWn3BWT4l
— New Heights (@newheightshow) February 14, 2024
Jason noted that his brother bumping Reid "crossed a line" and added that also yelling in his face was "over the top." Travis said that his outburst wasn't specifically aimed at Reid with anger, but more about frustrations regarding the team's first-half struggles offensively.
"I can't get that fired up to the point where I'm bumping Coach and it's getting him off-balance and stuff," he said.
Travis added: "Coach Reid knows how much I love to play for him. I'm not playing for anybody else, but Big Red. If he calls it quits this year, I'm out there with him, man."
Jason, who played under Reid when he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, also joked that Reid was fully within his right to bump back at his brother if he wanted to.
"Oh yeah, I deserve it," Travis answered. "If he would've cold-cocked me in the face right there, I would've just ate it and just been like, 'Yeah, let's (expletive) go!' "
While both brothers acknowledged that Travis shouldn't have gone at his coach in that manner, Jason did provide some key context about how deep the relationship between the two is, which allowed for that type of exchange to openly occur.
"I'm not trying to make this situation acceptable, but this is what happens when you have highly motivated passionate individuals," Jason said. "This doesn't happen if you and Andy aren't as close as you are. That's what nobody (expletive) knows. The reason this happens is because you two love each other so much and respect each other so much that you feel open enough to have an interaction like this."
Overall, this situation does seem to have smoothed over with zero bad blood spilled, especially thanks to the Chiefs late-game heroics to give them their latest Lombardi Trophy. Now, they can chalk it up to competitive spirit reaching a boiling point on the biggest stage the NFL has to offer.
