JUST IN: Travis Kelce Refuses to Accept Hard Truth About Chiefs Season. Continue reading for more stories👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

JUST IN: Travis Kelce Refuses to Accept Hard Truth About Chiefs Season. Continue reading for more stories👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

The Kansas City Chiefs (6-6) are outside of the NFL playoff picture coming into a critical “Sunday Night Football” game at home against the Houston Texans (7-5) in Week 14. Following their 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, Kansas City currently sits two games behind the Buffalo Bills for the final wild card spot in the AFC playoffs.

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Chiefs have a 40.7 percent chance to make the postseason. It is a reality that star tight end Travis Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl champion alongside the core of quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid, has a hard time accepting.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Amanda Perobelli/Reuters via Imagn Images

On Wednesday’s episode of the “New Heights” podcast, the Chiefs tight end contended that he feels his team is close to being the best in the league, despite their 6-6 record.

“I’m sure everybody is sick of us saying it, but we are a few plays away from being a No. 1 seed in my mind,” Kelce said. “Maybe it’s a bit extreme. All the losses are within one score. There’s a handful of plays within those game that are determining the outcome and it’s hard.”

Travis Kelce said the Chiefs are “a few plays away” from having the No. 1 seed in the AFC. “We’re this f***ing close.” pic.twitter.com/zKuEwcpMSj

— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) December 3, 2025
Kansas City has a 1-6 record in one-score games this season after going 11-0 in those games during the 2024 regular season. Kelce counts penalties, inefficiency in the red zone and his own mistakes — like a dropped pass in a Week 2 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — as the small margins that are stopping the Chiefs from having a much better record.

“It’s crazy that you watch the film and you see what’s real,” he continued. “You see that we are (expletive) this close.”

MAHOMES PICKED OFF AFTER KELCE COULDN’T HOLD ON 😮

(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/qFcvNnaZCr

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 14, 2025
It is hard to say Kelce has not done his part this season. The 36-year-old ranks as Mahomes’ top pass catcher with 59 catches for 719 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

The difference between expectations and reality for the defending AFC champions has been staggering this season. Being the No. 1 seed Kelce believes they can be is unrealistic at this point with five games left in the regular season.

Regardless, the Chiefs have a chance to significantly improve their playoff hopes if they can take down a fellow AFC postseason contender like the Texans on Sunday night. The game kicks off from Arrowhead Stadium at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.