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Travis Kelce battled ‘pretty big illness’ ahead of Super Bowl LIX
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- Travis Kelce battled ‘pretty big illness’ ahead of Super Bowl LIX
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Only a few short weeks after the Kansas City Chiefs lost in Super Bowl LIX, General Manager Brett Veach announced that, in the days leading up to the big game, tight end Travis Kelce was dealing with a "pretty big illness."
On Monday evening, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero shared a preview interview for an upcoming episode of The Insiders podcast. In the interview, Veach described Kelce's struggles ahead of the February 9 championship rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles .
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According to the GM, the record-breaking tight end had been "battling a pretty big illness" before heading to New Orleans ; however, he also acknowledged that it wouldn't have shifted the outcome of the game — which ended in a 40-22 Chiefs loss.
Veach said the Chiefs simply "picked a bad day to have a bad day," and added that he wasn't "making excuses" for Kelce or the team.
"You learn more from the losses than the wins," he said, ensuring that the team will be taking the season-ender as a "learning experience" and using it as "motivation" to improve and train in the off-season.
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Regardless of his supposed illness — which Veach didn't fully describe or elaborate on — and the Chiefs' disappointing loss, Kelce still managed to prove his skills by breaking yet another postseason record during the championship game.
On Super Bowl Sunday, the tight end hit 34 career Super Bowl pass receptions , passing Jerry Rice's 33. He then went on to make one more catch, tallying four receptions for 39 yards.
Following the game, Kelce was at the center of a lot of debates and conversations. Specifically, the 35-year-old star, who had just wrapped his 12th season in the NFL, had a lot of people questioning whether he was going to announce his retirement.
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However, these debates were silenced at the NFL Combine on Tuesday when Veach said Kelce " was fired up " to return in 2025.
"He has one more year on his contract," Veach said. "We left it at he'd be back, and we're excited to have him back."
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