The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a massive blow to their playoff chances on Sunday Night Football as they lost at home to the Houston Texans by a score of 20-10. Following the loss, the class of the AFC now has just a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs. They’ll need to win out in their final four games while getting some help from a number of teams in the Wild Card race.
Some of the Chiefs uncharacteristically sloppy offensive play came from their typically sure-handed players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Kelce’s struggles in particular cost Kansas City in the late stages of Sunday night’s game.
Kelce caught just one of his five targets on Sunday night, while suffering two brutal drops in the latter half of the fourth quarter, the second of which was picked off by Houston.
Following Kelce’s poor showing, rumors have begun to hit the fan around whether we’re watching the beginning of the end of his Hall-of-Fame career.
Stephen A: “This Is The End For [Kelce]”
Stephen A. Smith took the stage on ESPN’s “First Take” on Monday morning and made a bold claim about Kelce’s dwindling future in the NFL.
“As for their future sure-fire Hall-of-Famer Travis Kelce, I think this is the end for him,” Smith said. “I think we all knew he just came back because of the way they went out in the Super Bowl against the Eagles.”
“As for their future sure-fire hall-of-famer Travis Kelce, I think this is the end for him… I think we all knew he just came back because of the way they went out in the Super Bowl against the Eagles.”
Stephen A. Smith 🗣️
(via @FirstTake)
Based on Kelce’s play Sunday night, Smith’s point may have some validity. It could be easily argued that this was one of, if not the worst game of Kelce’s NFL career, especially with the playoff implications it carried.
Unless he catches 8+ passes in each of the final four games of the year, Kelce is on pace to have the least productive season of his career since 2015. He has 60 catches for 727 yards this season and hasn’t been under 90 since the 2017 season. If you pace it out, Kelce is only averaging a little over four catches per game this season, a downgrade for Mahomes’ long-time safety blanket.
If Kelce truly only came back because he wanted to avenge the Chiefs’ loss to the Eagles in the Super Bowl last season, he hasn’t done much to prove his vengeance; rather, all of his work this season may have been done for naught as Kansas City’s playoff chances are quickly slipping away.
Mahomes Finishes SNF With Lowest Passer Rating of Career
Patrick Mahomes finished Sunday night’s game with a passer rating of 19.8, the worst single-game performance of his storied career. He finished the game completing 14-0f-33 passes for just 160 yards and three interceptions. He didn’t complete a touchdown pass.
On a macro level, Mahomes’ stats this season aren’t terrible; they’d be very solid for a middling NFL QB. But for the level of play we’ve seen from the two-time MVP over his career, it’s been a highly disappointing season comparatively.
Granted, he’s working with a depleted offensive line, a regressing Kelce, and a mediocre group of wide receivers. We’ve seen him do more with less around him in his career though, which begs the question “what has to change in Kansas City to rebuild around Mahomes?”
Steelers Get First Real Look at Shedeur Sanders’ NFL Decision
The Pittsburgh Steelers still have three weeks before they play the Cleveland Browns for the final time this season, but they got an announcement that adds a little something extra to their AFC North showdown.
The Steelers versus Browns Week 17 game could help decide the winner of the division, or set up a dramatic ending in Pittsburgh against the Baltimore Ravens. But during the Cleveland game, the Steelers will get an opportunity to see if they made the right quarterback call during the NFL Draft.
The Browns announced that Shedeur Sanders will remain the starting quarterback for the rest of their 2025 season, ending talks of Deshaun Watson returning or Dillon Gabriel taking back over.
The first time Pittsburgh and Cleveland faced off, Gabriel was the passer, completing 29 of 52 passes for 221 yards as the Steelers won 23-9. This time, Sanders will get an opportunity to host the Steelers, and maybe show a team that passed on him that they made a mistake.
Steelers Tested The Waters With Sanders
Let’s go back to the 2025 NFL Draft. Everyone was trying to figure out where Sanders was going to land in the first round, with the Steelers as the most-likely pick. Pittsburgh held the Colorado star for a visit just before the draft and many believed it was a sign that they were going to take a chance on the QB with their first-round selection.
Instead, the Steelers passed on Sanders for Derrick Harmon. Then, they passed on him in the third round for Kaleb Johnson, and again in the fourth round for Jack Sawyer.
Sanders eventually went to the Browns in the fifth round, sparking plenty of conversation and a lot of backlash against teams who passed on him. Considering many thought he was a first-round pick heading into the draft, there’s a lot of belief that Cleveland got a steal in the later picks.
We’ll See
Now, the Steelers get their first look at the quarterback they passed on. Sanders isn’t going up against Pittsburgh’s rookie in Will Howard, who they selected in the sixth round, but against Aaron Rodgers.
If Sanders had ended up in Pittsburgh, Rodgers would’ve been the starter anyway. But the rookie gets a chance to prove to Mike Tomlin and company that he should’ve been their next franchise passer. A test that, if Sanders passes, could cause issues for the Steelers’ playoff hopes.
Sanders is 1-2 as a starter, completing 54 of 103 passes for 769 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions.
Pittsburgh travels to Cleveland in Week 17 to play at Huntington Bank Field.
