Chiefs’ Travis Kelce wins the battle of brothers: ‘It’s the best feeling in the world, man’

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Travis Kelce sat in the very back of the interview area cordoned off for the Kansas City Chiefs, separated from the interview area for the Eagles by barely more than a couple of curtains.

The winning players from Super Bowl LVII got in there a few minutes quicker than the losing players. Travis was at the “one more question” phase of his session when an announcement came through loud and clear … “Jason Kelce is at Podium 1” … That was in the back of the Eagles area, the closest podium to Travis, separated by only those curtains and maybe a dozen feet.

Travis did not flinch at that announcement. He probably didn’t hear it. He was still focused on the task at hand, which happened to be talking about what he called the “happiest year of my life.”

The context?

“Seeing my family in all its glory — my mom be the center of attention on the Jumbotron before the game, on the biggest stage,” Travis Kelce said.

» READ MORE: In an all-time great Super Bowl, the Eagles weren’t good enough. Oh, what could have been.

Then his voice started to catch. ”Being able to get closer to my brother throughout the season,” Kelce said, since their shared podcast was maybe a bonding experience above all. “And to meet him on the mountaintop.”

His voice was fully cracking.

“It’s the best feeling in the world, man,” Travis said.

Travis already had been asked what he had said to Jason as confetti fell on them both on the field: “There’s nothing you can really say to a loved one in a situation like that. You joke around all the time and say you want to beat your brother on the biggest stage ever, but it’s a weird feeling.” He repeated: “It’s a weird feeling. That team had great leadership, great coaches. Obviously, it came down to the end. We’ve got all the respect in the world for those Eagles, man. There’s nothing really I could say to him other than he played a hell of a year, a hell of a season.”

What he said next will strike at the heart of the Eagles, and maybe his own brother.

“There’s one thing about getting your first one,” Travis Kelce said. “It’s a whole ‘nother feeling to get two. I wanted this one more than I ever wanted a game ever in my life. The guys in this locker room, the teammates that I have, they felt the same way.”

The difference, Kelce said, “it solidifies your greatness. You didn’t get lucky once. It wasn’t beginner’s luck. We took it … two out of four.”

The word dynasty was used in the next question. Kelce kind of cut off the question.

“You can call it ‘dynasty;’ you can call it whatever you want,” Kelce said. “All I know is we’re coming back next year with our heart and the right mindset trying to get another one.”

» READ MORE: Andy Reid reaches Mount Rushmore of coaches with Chiefs’ Super Bowl win over Eagles

Some of the most poignant words Kelce used were about his head coach. He called Andy Reid “the ultimate challenger. He can relate to you and bring the best out of you. I wish I could explain it. That’s what makes him the greatest. Be able to have 53 grown men, find a way to challenge them without disrespecting anybody. He does it better than anybody I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Kelce brought it around to include Reid’s Philly tenure.

“For him going against his old team — we wanted to get this so bad for him,” Travis said of Reid. “His legacy in Philly will live on forever. That city loves him. I know that organization loves him. But, you know, ever since he’s been here in Kansas City, I’ve seen it firsthand, he’s poured his heart and his soul into this organization.”

Winning these titles.

“You can call it what you what you want — that didn’t happen in Philly,” Kelce said. “It happened right here in Kansas City. There’s a lot of pride knowing that he’s had success in two different organizations, but this is the better one.”

Kelce own historical legacy came up. How high is this Kelce brother rising in the all-time ranking of NFL tight ends?

“I’ve still got a lot of catching up to do,” Kelce said, mentioning names at the top of that mountain. “I’ll say, I definitely have one of the best situations of any tight end in the National Football League. With that quarterback, in this offense.”

He wasn’t denying his own role. Heck, was it really just “play design,” as he called it, when wide-open wide receiver Kadarius Toney caught a 5-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to give Kansas City its first lead early in the fourth quarter? Maybe the fact that Darius Slay and Avonte Maddox stuck with Kelce had something to do with it. It’s like a basketball player facing a box-and-one, a defender ordered to stay close. If that player goes and sets a screen, that’s a smart play.

“I consider myself a very valuable weapon on the Kansas City Chiefs,” Kelce said.

It’s not as if he was a decoy all night inside State Farm Stadium. Kelce had six catches for 81 yards and a score. Mahomes’ first pass was a 20-yard completion to Kelce. Four plays later, Mahomes to Kelce, for that score, an 18-yard completion that tied the game in a heartbeat after the Eagles had struck first. The need to devote more Eagles resources to Kelce was more than theoretical.

Kelce also listed all the defensive plays that kept the Chiefs in the game when it sure looked like it might get away from them.

“Let’s go out there and be ourselves,” Kelce said of what they were telling each other at halftime. “Go out and play with a little more fire. That was essentially the end of the discussion. It was never a battle of ‘want.’ Everybody wants it. It’s that can bring the energy and bring the focus to be able to finish. That’s what you saw.”

This interview was over, but there were more, out on the field, TV crews lined up. Some winning fans stuck around to watch. Soon, there was a chant, “Kelce, Kelce.” That scene and that chant were going to happen whichever way Super Bowl LVII went. It was just baked in that only one brother could stand alone on this particular mountaintop.

» READ MORE: Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs deliver, but the Eagles display a greatness of their own