In a tense and historically viewed Super Bowl, perhaps no one moment was more so than when Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce was caught on camera bumping head coach Andy Reid.
The incident took place after Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco fumbled the ball in the second quarter, and the team was struggling to find a rhythm while trailing the San Francisco 49ers.
“It looks like you caught Big Red (Reid) off-guard a little bit,” Jason Kelce told his brother during the Feb. 14 episode of their “New Heights” podcast.
“As he said, I got him with a cheap shot,” Travis Kelce said. “People are all over this, and I mean — I get it.”
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“You crossed a line,” Jason Kelce said. “I think we can both agree on that.”
Travis Kelce acknowledged he needed to be a little calmer in the moment.
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“I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping coach and it’s getting him off balance and stuff. When he stumbled, I was just like, ‘Oh, s---,’ in my head,” he said.
His brother echoed the sentiment.
“Let’s be honest. The yelling in his face, too, is over the top. I think there’s better ways to handle this, retrospectively,” Jason Kelce said.
The Chiefs would come from behind to edge the 49ers, 25-22, in overtime, to claim their second consecutive Super Bowl title and fourth in franchise history. Travis Kelce would finish with a team leading nine catches for 93 yards, helping to spark the win. Still, his confrontation resonated with a lot of fans.
“Yeah. I know. I’m a passionate guy,” he said. “I love coach Reid. Coach Reid knows how much I love to play for him, how much I love to be a product of his coaching career. I’m not playing for anybody else but Big Red.
“If he calls it quits this year, I’m out there with him, man,” he said, before noting that Reid is not planning to leave the Chiefs.
He said the episode with Reid highlighted his desire to win.
“I got a certain relationship with him,” he said. “He’s checked me a few times and I just wanted to let him know that I wanted this thing and that he could put it on me and I got him. It came at a moment where we weren’t playing very well. I wasn’t playing very well and we had to get some s--- going.”
“Emotions ramped up,” Jason Kelce said.
Travis Kelce then said he has a tough time bottling up his feelings, while noting he and Reid have moved past what happened.
“Sometimes those emotions get away from me, man, and that’s been the battle of my career,” he continued. “Everybody else, I don’t give a s--- what anybody else says. I talked to coach Reid about it today, and we kind of chuckled about it.
“I couldn’t be more proud of being his product on the field and I couldn’t be more proud of where we’ve come, as a team, since I got here in 2013. I just love playing for the guy, man. Unfortunately, sometimes my passion comes out where it looks like it’s negativity, but I’m grateful that he knows it’s all because I want to win this thing with him more than anything.”
Jason Kelce emphasized that his brother didn’t try to push Reid, calling it “accidental” and noting that his brother was “pissed off.”
While Jason Kelce said, “The optics of it look really bad,” he also said people don’t know his brother’s relationship with Reid.
“He’s obviously made light of it already,” he said. “You guys have already talked about it. I just love when people who don’t have anything to f------ to do with the situation get all riled up. Like, they’re offended. Not the guy that actually was involved in it, but people that don’t know what you two’s relationship are or how this went down. No, they’re the ones that get offended.”
“It's definitely unacceptable,” Travis Kelce later added about his behavior. “I immediately wished I took it back. Coach Reid actually came right up to me after that and didn't even have harsh words for me. I was ready to get a f------ ass-chewing and for him to just tell me to f------ be better. And he just let me know, 'Hey man, I love your passion. I got cameras on me all over the place, man. You don't want this to come off ...'”
Travis Kelce said the moment just "fired" him up "even more" to win the game for his coach.
"That's how much I love that dude, man," he continued. "Big Red, sorry if I caught you with a cheap shot, baby."
The tight end later clarified he wasn't mad at his coach, which is what it looked like in the moment.
"It was the frustration of our team not having success, turning the ball over and me being on the sideline. ... It was me showing my passion and frustration and letting coach know he can put it on me and I'll make sure I'll get this s--- done," he said.
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