Travis Kelce's Dad Ed Fires Back at Critics of His Son's On-Field Performance This Year

Ed Kelce/Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

• Ed Kelce took to social media Sunday to defend his son Travis Kelce's performance this season

• Travis Kelce has at times faced criticism amid the Kansas City Chiefs' disappointing 2025-26 season

• The Chiefs, who made six of the last seven Super Bowls, are currently 6-5 and sitting in third place in the AFC West

Papa Kelce is standing up for Travis!

Amid an uncharacteristically shaky season for the Kansas City Chiefs and his son Travis Kelce, Ed Kelce took to social media Sunday to clap back at criticism surrounding the star NFL tight end.

“If anyone questions how good Travis is playing; through week 10 he leads all tight ends in total yardage,” Ed, 56, wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Travis, 36, spiking a football following one of his four touchdowns this season.

Kelce and the Chiefs edged out a much-needed 23-20 overtime win over the surging Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, putting their season record at 6-5 and boosting their odds to make the playoffs for an 11th-straight season.

The youngest Kelce brother helped the team with 43 yards on four receptions, though he lacked a signature moment in the team’s win after his potential first-quarter touchdown was negated by a teammate’s penalty. Sunday’s performance also came one week after Kelce broke the Chiefs all-time record for most touchdowns when he brought in his 84th career TD.

Justin Edmonds/Getty

Yet, Kelce has caught stray criticism amid the team’s relatively disappointing 2025 season. Less than a year after appearing in their sixth Super Bowl in the last seven years, Kelce and the Chiefs are in the midst of trying to climb out of third place in the AFC West division and make the playoffs, which begin in January.

According to USA Today, the Chiefs’ odds of making the playoffs increased to 58% with Sunday’s win, while a loss would’ve dropped their odds to 29% with just six games left in the season.

Despite Kelce’s historic stat sheet, the tight end’s relationship with pop star Taylor Swift has led to an increased spotlight and, at times, scrutiny when either he or the Chiefs struggle on the field. At 36 years old, Kelce’s age has also invited critics to question whether he’s lost a step even as his stats prove otherwise, as his father Ed pointed out on social media Sunday.

The 13-year NFL veteran, who has openly talked about retiring after this season, has expressed his own disappointment in himself and the Chiefs while the team continues to get back to its once seemingly unstoppable form over the past decade.

“Right now, it's a different season than we've had since I can remember,” Kelce admitted during a press conference ahead of Sunday’s win. At the same time, however, Kelce told reporters he believes the “chemistry” of this year's Chiefs team has made it “one of the most fun teams I’ve been on in a while” and vowed the team is “willing to fight for each other” to get the team “fixed.”

Donna Kelce/Instagram

“Every season’s different,” Kelce said. “Adversity hits you in different ways every single year, and the ups and downs of a season kind of mold you as a group.”Kelce added: “You’ve got to find ways to fight through that.”

The Chiefs will continue to fight for a playoff spot when they face the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football later this week.

Read the original article on People