If Travis Kelce retired after the 2025 season, few could blame him.
The future Hall of Famer has three Super Bowl rings, 11 Pro Bowl selections and four first-team All-Pro nods (plus three second-team) to his name. He's newly engaged. He's lived quite a football life and has much more ahead of him off the field -- plus, Father Time is starting to hang around a little too often.
If this is indeed his final season, Thursday night represented his last game at Arrowhead Stadium, the only home venue he's known in his 13-year NFL career. Understandably, Kelce seemed almost wistful after the Chiefs' 20-13 Thursday night loss to the playoff-bound Denver Broncos.
"You feel the generations of happiness and the love that (the fans) have," Kelce said, via the Associated Press. "It's a beautiful thing, man. It's something I know I'll cherish forever, whether it's coming out of the tunnel or just making a big play for them. That's why we love Arrowhead."
On a low-output night for a Chiefs offense operating with third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun and playing for nothing but pride, Kelce exuded it, catching five passes for a team-leading 36 yards and making every effort possible to throw blocks for his ball-carrying teammates. Though the Chiefs lost to the AFC West-leading Broncos in a contest that came down to the final minute of action, energy remained high in the same stadium that had hosted six of the last seven AFC Championship Games.
Cornerstone figures like Kelce have had a lot to do with that.
"You only get a few of those (moments) where you get to stand there and appreciate 60, 70-thousand Chiefs fans cheering for you," Kelce said of his pregame introduction on Christmas night. "I always embrace that moment."
Kelce earned another Pro Bowl trip in 2025, an honor bestowed upon him in a season in which he's caught 73 passes for 839 yards and five touchdowns -- mirroring numbers he's posted in each of his last two campaigns -- and also as a nod to his place among the greats of his generation. Statistically, he's made a measurable difference amid a disappointing and often exasperating season for the defending AFC champions, but it's clear at 36 years old he's not the same elite player he once was.
Most have recognized this. Kelce hasn't shied from it, either, but will make his decision on his future "when the time comes."
Thursday night ended in disappointment, but of a different variety. Kelce is one of the few pillars of the Chiefs' dynastic run still standing at this point in the campaign and doing his best to finish strong, participating when the eliminated Chiefs have nothing else to play for.
"A whole lot of emotions," Kelce said. "You've got everybody in the world watching you. You get to go out there with the young guys on primetime television. Young guys getting an opportunity to taste what this NFL life is like."
Eras of dominance often end without warning, but the Chiefs' transition into this unfamiliar world of irrelevance wasn't without hints. They'd struggled in close contests -- formerly their comfort zone -- losing their eighth one-score game Thursday night. Earlier in the week, ownership announced the club intends to leave Missouri for Kansas and a new stadium in 2031.
Soon, Kelce could decide whether he too is finished with his Chiefs journey. One game remains, though, with a chance for Kelce to break 13,000 career receiving yards and move past Terrell Owens for the eighth-most receptions in NFL history (he needs just two).
One of those other remaining pillars is hoping Week 17 wasn't their last spent together -- at Arrowhead or at all.
"We've been through so much together," Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said, also via the Associated Press. "Just one more (season). Just one more."
