Travis Kelce’s high standards: He calls out Chiefs receivers for mistakes, not Patrick Mahomes

They took the scenic route there, but the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl again and are 60 minutes away from winning their second consecutive championship. The Chiefs will meet the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday night, when Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce can solidify their NFL legacies with a third Super Bowl ring in the past five years alone.

The Chiefs have been able to sustain championship-level play for half a decade because the organization demands a lot of its players. Kelce, Mahomes, and head coach Andy Reid have ensured that the Chiefs’ standards won’t slip — and it was revealed Thursday that Kelce is the most vehement of all in upholding the Kansas City way.

Rashee Rice: We love when Kelce calls us out
Rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice has experienced a rollercoaster debut season in the NFL. By the end of the regular season, Rice was perhaps the receiver that Mahomes trusted the most aside from Kelce — with inconsistency coursing through the Kansas City offense, Rice had to be indoctrinated quickly and learn even quicker.

Rice told reporters on Thursday that it isn’t Mahomes who came down the hardest on Chiefs receivers this season — instead, it was Kelce, espousing a kind of “bad cop” mentality to which the Kansas City players have evidently responded.

No team’s receiving corps dropped more passes during the regular season than the Chiefs’, a stat that potentially cost Mahomes nearly 400 additional passing yards. However, Kelce’s harping and badgering has paid off handsomely in the playoffs. The Chiefs offense has rounded into form, backing up an elite defense on their way to a fourth AFC championship in five seasons.

Kelce’s laid-back, easygoing nature is easy to see on his “New Heights” podcast, which he co-hosts with older brother Jason. It has always belied his professionalism and “all-business” attitude on the field, which has proven to raise the level of everyone around him — including Mahomes, whose career could have turned out differently had Kelce not been at his side.

Kelce has caught two touchdown passes in his previous three Super Bowl appearances, and it remains to be seen whether he can add to the tally on Sunday night — or if pop star girlfriend Taylor Swift will be in Las Vegas looking on.