The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to do something no team has ever done: win three straight Super Bowls.
The rest of the NFL is trying to stop them.
Here are the key elements of the Chiefs’ success, which will again play a role in their quest — and could provide clues to how other teams can unseat the kings of the NFL.
Other story in series: How past 3-peat bids failed
Age and history are working against Travis Kelce. Then again, they have been working against him for a couple seasons and you wouldn’t notice.
Kelce is already an anomaly at his age. There were a few productive tight ends at age 33, fewer at age 34 and it gets really thin once the bar slides to age 35. Kelce turns 35 in October, and based on the history of NFL tight ends he’s supposed to be retired or a non-factor by now.
No tight end in NFL history has had a 1,000-yard season at age 35 or older. Only Tony Gonzalez has reached 900 yards at that age, and only three others have even reached 700 yards (Ben Watson, Shannon Sharpe, Antonio Gates).
But there were very few good 33- and 34-year-old tight ends, so maybe it’s not fair to bet against Kelce being an outlier at age 35 as well. Kelce nearly reached 1,000 yards last season and was crucial in the Kansas City Chiefs‘ Super Bowl run. Either way, as the Chiefs chase an unprecedented third Super Bowl championship in a row, Kelce’s age is one of the biggest questions they have to wonder about.
Tony Gonzalez, a Chiefs great before Kelce, was the exception to the aging curve at tight end for many years.
Gonzalez was a productive tight end well into his mid-30s. He had 875 yards in 2011 at age 35 with the Atlanta Falcons, 930 yards at age 36 and 859 yards at age 37 before he retired. Gonzalez was a Pro Bowler at 35 years old and a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro at 36.
But that’s practically it. Those seasons from Gonzalez are the top three seasons, yardage wise, of any tight end 35 years or older in NFL history. So this is the Kelce conundrum: Either he is the second tight end ever to reach 800 yards at age 35, or he posts a career low in yards. His previous career low (not counting a rookie season in which he didn’t play due to injury) is 862 yards.
Kelce didn’t reach 1,000 yards last season, and that was odd. He had 984 yards, which snapped his streak of 1,000 yard seasons at seven. It also was good news for the legacy of Pete Retzlaff. Retzlaff had 1,190 yards for the 1965 Philadelphia Eagles, and he remains the only 34-year-old tight end to have a 1,000-yard season. For Kelce, it also seemed like a sign that he might be slowing down just a bit.
It can all be boiled down to this: When you’re in your mid-30s and you’re an NFL tight end, you are almost without exception done as a productive player. Is Kelce going to break that rule, or will the Chiefs have a big hole in their passing game as they chase history?
Kelce didn’t reach 1,000 yards last season, but he also missed two games and was his normal great self in the playoffs. Kelce had 32 catches, 355 yards and three touchdowns in the playoffs. The Chiefs likely wouldn’t have won a Super Bowl without him playing at that level. But he did, and it gave renewed hope that he’s a physical freak who is simply going to ignore more than 100 years of NFL history for tight ends his age and keep playing at a high level.
“I’m gonna do it until the wheels fall off, and hopefully that doesn’t happen anytime soon,” Kelce said this offseason via NFL.com. “But I can definitely understand that it’s (closer) toward the end of the road than it is the beginning of it, and I just gotta make sure I’m set up for after football, as well.”
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense relies heavily on Kelce in the passing game, and it would look a lot different if Kelce does hit the wall at age 35. One obvious way to keep Kelce from falling off is for coach Andy Reid to limit Kelce’s snaps. That process already started. Kelce was at 95% of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps in 2018, and that has steadily dwindled down to 78% last season. It’s much more important for Kelce to be fresh for a playoff run than play nearly every snap in Week 5 against the Saints. Kelce seems to understand that.
“Coach Reid, he’ll tell you he’s got 51% [of the vote],” Kelce said. “So as much as I want to be out there every single play, I understand that it’s for the betterment of the team when I’m not. I’ve had to kind of understand that over the past couple of years and I’m more comfortable with that right now because of the guys that we have in the room.”
The Chiefs have invested in the position behind Kelce. Noah Gray has 56 catches for 604 yards and three touchdowns the past two seasons since being drafted in the fifth round in 2021. Kansas City also traded a late-round conditional pick to the Dallas Cowboys for Peyton Hendershot this week, and drafted Jared Wiley in the fourth round. Even if none approximate Kelce’s greatness, there’s more than enough bodies for the Chiefs to lean on the 12 and 13 personnel Reid loves.
That might keep Kelce from chasing 1,000 yards again, but that’s not the goal. Three Super Bowls in a row would be huge for the Chiefs as well as Kelce’s legacy and his argument as the greatest tight end ever. Father Time is undefeated, but Kelce hopes to put him off for at least another season.
