Jason Kelce’s thought experiment with Travis Kelce pinpoints exactly what’s so frustrating about the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs
Who would you take in a head-to-head matchup? The 2025 Kansas City Chiefs or the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs?
The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-5 and in a fight to make the playoffs after dropping their Week 11 game to the Denver Broncos.
On the latest episode of “New Heights,” after Travis Kelce vented about the loss in Denver, Jason Kelce posited a thought experiment to his brother. The answer really sums up what’s so very frustrating about the 2025 Chiefs: The record doesn’t reflect how good this team is.
“It’s frustrating where you guys are at your 5-5,” Jason said. “Five of those losses, though, are one-score games. There’s like one or two plays a game, and you guys could easily still be at the top of the AFC. Let me ask you this. This is what’s crazy about the NFL. If this year’s Chiefs team played last year’s Chiefs team, who wins?”
“I’m taking this year’s (team),” Travis said.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Jason said. “I am too. Somehow, you guys are better, but you’re sitting at 5-5. You’re just not being… you’re not executing as well at the end of games, which is very uncharacteristic for Pat and for what you guys have been, obviously, last year.”
“It feels like it’s all self-inflicted, and it feels like the answers are right there in front of us, and we just got to (expletive) do it,” Travis said.
The 2025 Chiefs are a better team than the one that went to Super Bowl LIX
By the numbers, the 2025 Chiefs are a better team than they were a season ago. Through 10 games, they’re averaging more points, allowing fewer, and generating more turnovers. Yet, they’re not winning in the high-leverage moments. Last year, pulling out improbable victories in one-score games was this team’s superpower. This year, the pendulum has swung back the other way to where it’s their greatest weakness. They’ve not won a single one-score game that they’ve played in so far.
| Season | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 24 | 25.4 |
| PPG allowed | 19.1 | 18.1 |
| Turnover margin | -5 | +3 |
| One-score games won | 7 | 0 |
| W-L record | 9-1 | 5-5 |
One area that’s increasingly standing out for Kansas City is the penalties, which Travis Kelce vented about to open this conversation.
“A bunch of flags all over the place, whether it was procedural penalties, which is the (expletive) most frustrating thing ever,” Travis said. “Or holding penalties, which, some I’m here for. Others, it’s like, ‘What are we doing?’”
Chiefs penalties per game average
- 2025: 5.5 (20 games)
- 2024: 6.9 (10 games)
The Chiefs have 69 penalties so far in the 2025 NFL season, which, at a 20-game pace, would put them at 138 on the year. That’s 28 more penalties at that pace than they had a season ago. The penalties are coming in some key situations, too. Just look at the Week 11 loss to the Broncos. Juju Smith-Schuster’s first offensive holding penalty, Jawaan Taylor’s illegal formation penalty, both of Josh Simmons’ penalties, and Noah Gray’s false start all preceded five drives stalling out. This team might be performing better as a whole, but they’re not performing at their best in the biggest of moments.
There’s still time for the Chiefs to flip that narrative on its head, but like Travis Kelce says, they basically have to run the table in the final seven games of the season. There’s no more room for errors, and everyone on the team, from the coaches down to the 53rd man on the roster, must be accountable for themselves if they’re to dig their way out of it all.
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