Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes contrast couldn’t be more apparent immediately after Super Bowl

The Kansas City Chiefs saw their three-peat dreams shattered after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, but Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce reacted very differently.

The Chiefs were humbled by the Eagles after suffering a 40-22 loss in New Orleans, although things could have been a lot worse as they trailed 24-0 at halftime. Both Mahomes and Kelce were poor during Sunday’s game, as the Chiefs quarterback threw two interceptions – both of which led to touchdowns – and the tight end had just four catches for 39 yards.

While both players were heartbroken, Kelce decided not to face the media and skipped his postgame press conference, answering a few questions in the locker room before leaving Caesars Superdome. Mahomes, on the other hand, sat in his press conference for 15 minutes and pinned the blame on himself.

As the signal caller, the offense runs through Mahomes, but although he endured one of the worst games of his career, his teammates didn’t help. Only wide receiver Xavier Worthy stood out for the Chiefs, but the entire running back room, Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, and Hollywood Brown, failed to make an impact.

“Credit to the Eagles, man,” Mahomes said in his postgame press conference. “They played better than us from start to finish. Obviously, the turnovers hurt. I take all the blame for that…. It’s hard to come back from that in a Super Bowl.”

Mahomes later added: “I can’t turn the ball over early in the game when it’s not going our way, I’ll have to learn from that and try to be better the next opportunity that I hopefully get. Hopefully we can learn from this… and try to continue to get even better, because it’s going to take better football, especially from me, in order to try to make a run at another Super Bowl.”

The Chiefs’ franchise star may be Mahomes, but Kelce is a close-second when it comes to popularity. Kelce’s face said it all once the loss was confirmed, and the tight end left the stadium extremely quickly as he wanted to escape the noise.

Travis Kelce appeared extremely emotional after Sunday’s loss© (Image: Getty)

Kelce made himself available for questions for about two minutes, calling it the worst game of the Chiefs’ season. No reporters asked Kelce about his future following speculation over his retirement, and fans are starting to wonder whether his emotions and reluctance to face the wider media means his NFL career may be over.

But Mahomes doesn’t think so. “He knows he has a lot of football left in him. You can see it, he always makes plays in the biggest moments, but it’s if he wants to put in that grind,” the quarterback said after being asked about his teammate’s future.

“It’s a grind out there to play 20 games, or whatever it is, and get to a Super Bowl. He’s done enough to be a gold-jacket guy, a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. I know he still has love for the game, and he’ll get to spend some time with his family and make that decision on his own, but he knows he’ll come back here with open arms.”