Travis Kelce's dropped pass: Brutal INT leads to meme for everything wrong with Chiefs this season

Dan Treacy

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Travis Kelce's dropped pass: Brutal INT leads to meme for everything wrong with Chiefs this season image

A nightmarish season by Kansas City Chiefs standards took another turn for the worse on Sunday night, with a 20-10 home loss to the Houston Texans dropping the reigning AFC champions below.500 and to the fringes of the AFC playoff picture.

While plenty of blame is to go around for the defeat, it was a late drop by Travis Kelce that just about sealed Kansas City's fate. With a chance to put their offensive struggles behind them and go down the field to tie the game, a late fourth-quarter drive quickly went awry when Kelce bobbled a pass from Mahomes and sent it into the arms of Texans LB Azeez Al-Shaair for an interception.

It was Mahomes' third interception of the night, but two of them were directly impacted by Kelce on a night that saw the future Hall of Famer bring in one pass on five targets.

Here's a look at Kelce's dropped pass and the Chiefs' playoff chances after their seventh loss of the season.

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Travis Kelce dropped pass video

Kelce couldn't bring in Mahomes' second-down pass late in the fourth quarter, effectively handing Al-Shaair the interception and the Texans the win. 

The internet has had some fun with the Chiefs' struggles in 2025, and Kelce's drop was no exception. Memes started rolling in as soon as the veteran's gaffe put another nail in the coffin for Kansas City:

Here's a closer look at Kelce's performance by the numbers. 

MORE: Chiefs' worst records in Patrick Mahomes era

Travis Kelce stats vs. Texans

  • Targets: 5
  • Catches: 1
  • Yards: 8
  • TD: 0

Kelce was targeted five times on Sunday night but only came down with one catch for eight yards in the loss. Five other Chiefs pass catchers finished with more yards, even on a sluggish night for the entire Kansas City passing attack.

While Kelce is still on pace to top 900 yards in 2025, duds have become more common for him over the last two seasons. After not posting a single game with less than 14 yards from 2019-23, Kelce has three such games since the start of the 2024 season. His eight yards in Sunday's loss match an eight-yard performance against the Buffalo Bills from 2024 and a five-yard showing against the Cincinnati Bengals from the same season.

Sunday's performance marked only Kelce's second game with just one catch over the last seven seasons.

MORE: Which NFL teams are memeworthy at 6-7?

Chiefs playoff chances

The Chiefs aren't yet eliminated, but the path forward for Patrick Mahomes and co. Is quickly narrowing.

At 6-7, Kansas City trails the final AFC wild-card spot by two games with four games to play. Because the Texans now own the head-to-head tiebreaker and hold the final wild-card spot, that deficit is effectively three games -- though the Chiefs still have hope of catching the Chargers in the tiebreaker department and would trail L.A. By two games if the Philadelphia Eagles win on Monday night.

NFL.com lists the Chiefs' playoff probability at just 15 percent with four weeks remaining, meaning Kansas City likely has to win out and hope for some help to sneak into the field. The Chiefs have already been eliminated from AFC West contention.

MORE: Full breakdown of Chiefs' playoff chances after loss

Is Travis Kelce retiring in 2026?

Kelce considered retirement after the 2024 season before deciding to return for a 13th season. While he hasn't called 2025 his final season, he told reporters the same decision will be on the table this winter, even if he won't be thinking about it until the season ends.

"It’s one of those things where I’d like to make that decision before they have draft picks and free agency opens and give them an opportunity to go out there and fill the roster appropriately," Kelce said in November. "All of that will be after the season. I won’t be thinking about it until then."

That puts Kelce's deadline in early March, when free agency begins around the NFL, though an early end to the Chiefs' season could give him a head start on the decision.

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