The Kansas City Chiefs were able to pull out a victory in overtime in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers to secure their second Super Bowl championship in as many years. But throughout much of the game, it was not smooth sailing for the team, particularly when it came to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and star tight end Travis Kelce.
Early on in the game, the Chiefs offense struggled to find much momentum. This led to Kelce getting into the face of Reid in the first half of the game after being taken out on a play where the team fumbled in the red zone.
Kelce even appeared to bump into Reid, which almost knocked him off balance.
Travis Kelce is quite frustrated. 😲 #SuperBowlLVIII pic.twitter.com/NwNRfrLXxs
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) February 12, 2024
It’s not exactly the best look for Kelce to be making contact with his head coach, even if it was done in the heat of the moment during the most important game of the year. If the Chiefs would have lost this game, it likely would have been a far bigger story than it is after they went on to win.
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady has been known to have several passionate moments on the sidelines over the years in big games, so he certainly understands Kelce’s mindset during that moment more than most.
Brady spoke about Kelce’s incident in a recent episode of the Let’s Go! podcast, detailing that he saw it as a “little family issue” between the two.
“There’s always little family issues and of course I don’t mind seeing it because I was a part of a lot of those things,” Brady said. “Emotions are so high. You are definitely not centered and balanced. You’re not in a meditative state at that point. You are fully determined to go out there and to win. So I think a lot of the things that are said during the games, people should just let them fly off their back. And I actually think Coach Reid handled it just awesome, like he always does, because he just said, ‘I was a little off balance and Travis is such a competitor.’ And I love that because it just speaks to his leadership ability.”
Brady is right in his assessment that Reid handled it quite well, not taking it to heart which he certainly could have done. But it is certainly worth wondering whether Reid would have handled it the same way if it were a lower-profile player than Reid that got into his face instead.
Regardless, the Chiefs are Super Bowl champions, and this ugly moment from Kelce appears to be water under the bridge for most.