"The illness: age” - Fans react as Chiefs GM reveals Travis Kelce battled "pretty big illness” before Super Bowl loss 

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach opened up to Tom Pelissero about Travis Kelce’s health prior to his Super Bowl appearance. The GM was asked by Pelissero on NFL: The Insiders podcast if the Chiefs tight end Kelce would remain in the team in 2025. Veach revealed that Kelce remains on the Chiefs roster, and went on to add that Kelce was ill during the Super Bowl when the Chiefs faced a crushing defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles. Veach said,

“We’re never gonna make excuses and talk about it. But I mean, he was battling with a pretty big illness there for the Super Bowl”

Tom Pelissero’s tweet of the interview clip blew up on X as fans reacted to Veach’s comments. The majority of the reactions were bitter, and fans felt Veach was making excuses after the Chiefs Super Bowl loss. The general sentiment was that Travis Kelce was seen dining with his friends in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, and the media attention around his relationship with Taylor Swift didn't help his case. The illness narrative did not convince many NFL fans, who called Veach out on it. On the other hand, a handful of sympathetic fans agreed with Veach and felt that his comments made sense in the context of Kelce’s performance on February 9.

Calling out Veach and others for resorting to excuses about poor performances, a fan took to X to comment,

“The illness: age”

A fan referenced Kelce’s activities prior to the Super Bowl, calling out the illness narrative. The user wrote on X,

“What an excuse! If he was actually battling an illness, don’t think he would’ve been out on multiple date nights right before the game.”

Another NFL fan pointed out holes in Veach’s argument, writing,

“So was Jalen Carter...oh, and Nolan Smith tore one of his triceps mid-game. This doesn't seem like a good story.”

An X user used sarcasm to communicate how unconvincing Veach’s statement seemed, writing,

“Pretty big illness”, yet he went out the night before and looked perfectly??? Didn’t know a hangover was an illness lol”

Another X user was quick to point out Kelce’s subpar performance during the entire season. The fan wrote,

“Did he have the same illness all season?”

A sympathetic fan agreed with Veach’s statement, and wrote,

“That def makes sense based off how I saw him play”

Another user agreed with Veach, highlighting his comment about the Eagles' fantastic performance. The user wrote,

“He did say nobody was going to beat the Eagles the way they played! Which was true! I think one playoff loss in 3 years is amazing! I know you do to!”

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Rumors of Travis Kelce’s retirement picked up after Chiefs’ Super Bowl defeat

While Brett Veach laid rumors of Travis Kelce’s potential retirement to rest, Chiefs fans and Kelce’s detractors won’t lay low until they see the Chiefs tight end in action again. Kelce's foray into acting is also adding fuel to the fire.

Earlier in the season, Travis Kelce had commented on his unsatisfactory performance in the New Heights podcast in September 2024. After the second Chiefs game of the season played against the Cincinnati Bengals, Kelce kept a level head about it and said,

“For whatever reason, these past two games it hasn't gone that way for me and that’s football man. I'm not about to sit here and get frustrated about it. I used to get really really pissed off and and almost lose my cool…so I stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago and I just went out there and started to just play”

The Chiefs quarterback and star Patrick Mahomes have also been among Travis Kelce’s great defenders, then and now. Responding to rumors of Kelce's retirement, YahooSports quoted Mahomes after the Super Bowl loss,

“He knows he still has a lot of football left in him. You can see it”

For now, it seems like Travis Kelce is on track to play for the Kansas City Chiefs this coming season.