Travis Kelce’s knee injury comes with an important reminder for the Kansas City Chiefs
Over the last few seasons, the Chiefs purged 50 years of futility amplified by the agony of postseason catastrophes.
Heck, even when they lost the AFC Championship Game to New England after what might have been a game-sealing interception was negated by an infamous offsides call, it was easy to see that not as more of the same but a new beginning conjured from Patrick Mahomes’ first season as the starting quarterback.
As it happened, the suddenly charmed Chiefs won the Super Bowl the next season and have appeared in three of the last four as they seek to become the first NFL team to repeat in nearly 20 years.
But as much as this era has reshaped the identity of the Chiefs and even the self-image of the region, it’s still easy to stir up echoes of the heartache conditioned over so many years, isn’t it?
And with the ominous announcement Tuesday by coach Andy Reid that superstar tight end Travis Kelce had suffered a hyperextended knee and that “we’ll just see how it goes” for him entering their NFL opener Thursday against the visiting Detroit Lions, it might even be tempting to get paranoid.
Because, as if it wouldn’t be challenge enough to repeat after a decidedly compressed offseason of celebration and preening, the concerns about Kelce — whose status is not at all clear one way or another as we write this Tuesday afternoon — are just the latest complication to be heaped on the Chiefs since they opened training camp in St. Joseph.
Their most vital defender, defensive lineman Chris Jones, continues to hold out and won’t return until … when, exactly?
Before the Chiefs even officially began their first practice, their most dynamic receiver, Kadarius Toney, suffered a knee injury during a punt return drill that kept him out most of camp.
Next thing you know, key free agent defensive lineman Charles Omenihu was suspended for the first six games of the season. Meanwhile, lingering injuries kept starting running back Isiah Pacheco in a yellow non-contact jersey nearly the entire preseason and forced linchpin defensive back L’Jarius Sneed to sit out much of camp.
We could go on, but you get the idea.
Now, it bears mention that Pacheco, Sneed and Toney all are expected to play on Thursday — and that we may not know about Kelce until that night.
So none of this remotely spells doomsday, especially with the irrepressible Mahomes.
Other than Jones and until we know better about Kelce, the other personnel matters could even play out as things to feel relieved about.
But it’s also all a great reminder of how precarious and fickle this pursuit might be in a league that has so successfully cultivated parity and the drama that comes with it.
However it plays out with Kelce, this episode embodies that.
A day before, the 33-year-old stood at the podium at the Chiefs training complex and spoke about his enduring health.
“It’s Week One: Body’s feeling as good as it will feel all year,” he said, smiling and later adding: “There’s a lot of fortune that goes into this game and staying healthy and being out there every week.”
All too true, alas.
He spoke, too, of the ongoing weekly thrill of receiving the game plan and picturing Reid’s visions brought to life.
Only 24 hours later, a tense and terse Reid hurried through a news conference in just over 2 minutes — presumably to get on to making some revisions in the event that Kelce will miss the game.
And if he misses this one, as we await further clarity about the injury, who knows how many more?
“Next guy steps in,” Reid said, “and we roll.”
That’s how the Chiefs do business, he meant.
But the truth is that whether they can ultimately roll through this season will depend not merely on how good they are on a surface level but on a zillion other factors.
Like uncontrollable twists of fate and bounces of balls in their games (and those of opponents), how healthy they can stay and whether the next guys stepping in are indeed capable of sustaining the charge.
The defensive line without Jones and Omenihu for the foreseeable next few weeks will be Exhibit A.
And how Reid reorganizes the receiving game if Kelce can’t go will make for further testimony.
When the Chiefs were trying to repeat after winning Super Bowl LIV, I spoke about the pursuit with Dr. Rich Keefe. He’s the former director of sports psychology at Duke University and author of a book on the psychology of peak athletic performance called “On The Sweet Spot: Stalking The Effortless Present.”
He made a point about the chase that has stayed with me ever since:
“When the absolute winner is declared, they’re there on the basis of being really good plus chance events,” he said. “So that means the next year they could be just as good and not have those chance events work out on a couple things and then they fall back.
“So it’s not really that they weren’t as good; they just didn’t have the things going for them that they need to win.”
It has been, and remains, my feeling that these Chiefs can be every bit as good as the last edition.
But it’s also true, whether you’re an optimist from recent years or still bear the hard-earned pessimist of the long run, there’s no way to know how such elements will fall for the Chiefs this season.
Whether you’re worried or filled with faith, that aspect won’t be apparent until they’re deep into the ever-churning flux of the season.
We’ll certainly see a sliver of what it looks like on Thursday, though, when the Chiefs will unveil not just their Super Bowl banner but their first statement of how equipped they are to adapt and repeat through whatever should come their way.
Like Reid said of Kelce: “We’ll just see how it goes.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Travis Kelce’s knee injury comes with an important reminder for the Kansas City Chiefs."