Travis Kelce addresses retirement speculation after Chiefs loss to Broncos, final home game in 2025

Did Travis Kelce just play his last game in Arrowhead Stadium? The Kansas City Chiefs tight end addressed his future — and possible retirement — after the Chiefs’ 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos on Christmas Day.

“Honestly, I’ve been just focused on trying to win football games,” Kelce told reporters during the postgame press conference. “Man, I’ll let that be a decision that I make with my family, friends, the Chiefs organization when the time comes.”

That’s been the steady answer for Kelce whenever he’s been asked over the past several weeks. Of course, the Chiefs were already eliminated from playoff contention and have a 6-10 record this season after Thursday night’s loss.

The Christmas night game began, however, with Kelce being shown on the Prime Video broadcast visibly emotional before the game. The Week 17 matchup is the final home game for Kansas City this season. If the longtime Chiefs tight end is considering retirement, it may have been his final time playing in from of Kansas City’s fanbase.

“Yeah, it’s a Christmas game, baby,” Kelce said. “It’s a whole lot of emotion, man.”

Kelce would finish the game with a team-high five receptions for 36 yards in a game that featured Chris Oladokun making his first start of the year. Both QBs Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew went down with knee injuries over the past couple of weeks and won’t return this season.

If Kelce does decide to hang it up, he’ll finish as one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the NFL, at least statistically. In 191 games across his 12-year NFL career, Kelce ranks third all-time among tight ends with 12,990 receiving yards behind only Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. He also has 82 receiving touchdowns to his credit as well, which is fifth all-time.

On the year, Kelce came into the matchup with 68 receptions for 803 yards and five touchdowns. He’s never recorded less than 800 yards in a single season, including seven seasons in a row (2016-2022) with 1,000 receiving yards or more.

Now that the Chiefs has finished up their home schedule this season, they’ll turn their attention toward the final game of their season — a road game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Whether those are the last two games left in Kelce’s career remains to be seen. As for now, it appears that he’s solely focused on helping the Chiefs win their seventh game of the season.