KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No tight end in NFL history has more 100-yard games than Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.
With six catches for 115 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 31 seconds left in Sunday’s 30-27 win at the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce moved alone into first place all-time with 33 100-yard games.
“Obviously, Travis — it’s Travis; he’s the greatest tight end of all-time,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “He makes plays like that that win games.”
Kelce had been tied with fellow future Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski, who had 32 100-yard games in his career.
“I’ve got a whole lot of respect for Rob, man,” Kelce said. “Just to be in that conversation is pretty damn cool. Shoutout to the 87s out there, baby.”
Tony Gonzalez, who became a star with the Chiefs and finished his career with Atlanta, is the only other tight end in NFL history with more than 25 100-yard games. He had 31 such games in his career.
It’s unlikely Kelce, who leads the NFL with 11 receiving touchdowns this season, is done padding his NFL record.
After all, he’s had four 100-yard games during Kansas City’s 8-2 start.
“You’d like it to last forever, but these guys grow old … so what I do is I try to enjoy every minute of it, every play,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Their chemistry is ridiculous.”
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes called Kelce’s competitiveness his best and most-important trait — more so than his size, speed or route-running.
“He just competes,” Mahomes said. “At the end of the day, he’s going to keep fighting until the very end. … He’s one of the best — if not, the best — tight end of all-time, and he’s coming to work every single day to get better.”
The Chiefs were without three wide receivers — JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman Jr. and Kadarius Toney — for most of the game, and Chargers safety Derwin James is among the NFL’s best at shutting down opposing tight ends.
But it didn’t matter.
“I joked during the week that I go through the reads unless Kels is manned up, then I throw him the ball,” Mahomes said. “That’s kind of my mindset.”
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