Has Travis Kelce’s magic touch started to slip? For more than a decade, we have watched Kelce make jaw-dropping catches look routine. He’s the pulse of Kansas City’s offense, Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target. But lately, the tape tells a different story. One bobbled catch in a critical moment against the Eagles sent shockwaves through Arrowhead Stadium. With that pivotal interception, a question reared its head. Is the tight end hitting the inevitable wall where grip, speed, and timing start to fade? Or is this just a blip in the legacy of one of football’s all-time greats?

That missed play, picked off by Andrew Mukuba, wasn’t random. Travis Kelce opened up about it on his New Heights podcast. “The ball was where it needed to be when it needed to be there. – It’s one of those plays where it happens bang, bang. And I know that that’s the window that it needs to be in. I know it’s coming out of armpits and ear holes of the offense and defensive line getting their hands up. And I just gotta be able to get my head around right now so that I don’t put myself in a position to let the ball surprise me like that.” He also admitted this wasn’t the first time he’s made this catch. So what’s different now? Mike Florio offered a blunt take: Kelce’s 36th birthday is coming soon, and maybe his game isn’t quite as sharp and fast as it once was.

Kelce’s resume is unreal: playoff heroics and clutch grabs through thick and thin. But time is an opponent he cannot beat. As Mike Florio put it recently, “He’s gonna be 36 in a couple of weeks. Maybe things don’t move as fast as they did for him. Maybe he no longer has that high level of skill. Father Time is undefeated. And I know it’s harsh, but it’s reality.” These slips have started increasing as Kelce enters his late-career stage. And the most jarring reality is that this Week 2 mishap wasn’t the first one this season.

Kelce’s numbers started slipping from the first week, snagging just two of four targets in Brazil, including a critical drop at the goal line. To add salt, he slammed into Xavier Worthy early, knocking Worthy out with a dislocated shoulder and sending waves of concern through a thin offense. Florio compared Travis Kelce’s predicament to former NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Florio remembered an instance where Taylor spoke to Bill Parcells near the twilight of his career. “‘Man, all those guys are fast out there. These young guys are really fast. This game’s moving fast.’ And Parcells said, ‘no, Lawrence, you’re just getting old.’”

But it’s not just Travis Kelce who bears the weight of mistakes in the locker room. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have stepped up with bluntness, taking the blame on their shoulders.

Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and accountability

Patrick Mahomes didn’t dodge responsibility. Instead, he took it all upon himself when asked about that crucial dropped ball by Kelce. “We got the defense that we wanted. We expect them to play that zero-zero with the hole player – with the safety. I think I threw it just a tad too early, just trying to put it on his body low before that hole player got there and I think if I can put it more on his body and not so far out in front of him then he can catch it, take the hit and get in the end zone.” Championship teams take ownership, but only if the pieces move at the tempo they remember. And so far, Kelce has looked far away from his prime years of dominant performance.

Head Coach Andy Reid also took his share (if not all) of the fallout. “I’ll take full responsibility for that game. I probably stayed too aggressive on that and that’s my responsibility. I thought my guys played their tail off. – We can’t have the turnover. Again, I’ve got to dial up something different here.” Big Red also noted that their struggles now will “pay off for us down the road as we continue to grow,” but nothing erases the fact that this is the first time the Chiefs have gone 0-2 in a season since 2015. The Chiefs are set to clash against the Giants next. Will we see a turnaround in that game? Or will familiar horrors snowball into Week 3 as well?

Can the Chiefs bounce back? For Kelce, Reid, and Mahomes, it will be about bringing that old muscle memory back with urgency. If they can avoid the miscues from the first two weeks and notch their first win against New York, there might be reason to believe they’re just one dropped pass away from a fresh run. As September 20 inches close, we’ll look forward to what changes they have made.