Sunday’s Week 15 matchup against the Chargers was an unmitigated disaster for the Chiefs. Playing in front of home fans at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City failed to pull out a must-win game and lost, 16-13, to be eliminated from playoff contention. It’s the first time in a decade the Chiefs have missed the playoffs—and, even worse, Patrick Mahomes went down with an injury in the final minutes of the effectively season-ending loss.
It truly could not have gone worse. Afterwards, Travis Kelce did not want to speak to the media about everything and offered a weak quote for his reasoning.
Kelce, one of the Chiefs’ leaders in the locker room and one of the most famous faces in the NFL, declined to be interviewed by reporters postgame and said it’s “not the time.”
“It's not the time. I'll catch you guys during the week,” Kelce said, per The Athletic’s Jesse Newell.
The thing is, after the games is quite literally the time for athletes to speak to the media. Yet Kelce decided he didn’t want to do it after a tough loss, and it’s not the first time this season either. He caught a lot of criticism for doing the same thing last week after Kansas City’s terrible loss to the Texans and has been inconsistently available for reporters all season long.
Obviously Sunday’s game was very difficult on a few levels. The result meant Kelce would not be playing playoff football for the first time since 2014 and Mahomes’s injury was undoubtedly tough for the tight end to stomach given their close relationship. But part of the deal with playing pro sports is answering questions about what went wrong after a game like this. Kelce doesn’t seem interested in that responsibility.
It’s been a terrible year for Kelce. The longtime Chiefs star is on pace to finish with near-career worst numbers in yards and catches. He’s visibly been a step slow throughout the season and failed to summon the same magic with the ball that fans grew to love over the years. Kelce hasn’t been the entire problem with Kansas City’s offense but his sudden performance drop certainly didn’t help matters. On Sunday he finished with seven catches for 70 yards.
Now he’s refusing to talk to the media after the worst loss of his career and giving weak excuses for the decision. Not the best look for Kelce.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Travis Kelce Gave Weak Excuse for Not Talking to Media After Chiefs’ Loss to Chargers.