The Super Bowl Sunday night was the most watched Super Bowl and the most watched television show in history. Much of the bump can likely be credited to extra eyeballs drawn to the contest because of the Taylor Swift factor, but ratings are ratings, and after a lackluster season, the NFL should be happy to show continued growth.
It was a sloppy, disjointed affair, especially in the first half. The game featured mistakes by both teams, as well as numerous punts and turnovers. Eventually, both teams settled in, and the game became more exciting in the second half. That isn’t to say there wasn’t some drama and intrigue in the first half. Between Swift sightings and commercials, one of Kansas City’s star players lost his cool and exploded on the sidelines.
Taylor Swift’s boyfriend and star tight end, Travis Kelce, provided the most exciting moment of the first half, albeit not in the way the Chiefs had hoped. Kelce wasn’t prominently featured in the Chief’s first-half game plan, and after a deep pass to seldom-used receiver, Mecole Hardman put the team in scoring range, running back Isiah Pacheco fumbled, turning the ball over to San Francisco.
Kelce was out on that series in favor of blocking tight end Noah Gray, and when Pacheco fumbled, the enigmatic Chief’s tight end blew up on the sideline and almost took his coach to the ground as a result. It was unknown what was said, but Kelce raced up to Reid and screamed in his face. The subsequent contact almost knocked the coach to the ground and was caught on network cameras.
Exacerbating matters, CBS’s broadcasting duo of Tony Romo and Jim Nantz largely glossed over the incident, with Romo explaining: “After the fumble, he comes over to Andy (Reid). He goes, ‘Keep me in,’” What happened on the fumble is he wasn’t in. Noah Gray went in and he had to block.” Many on social media were critical of their response, feeling like the immature blow-up merited more criticism.
Kelce had one catch in the first half but finished the game with a team-high 93 yards on nine catches. After the game, Coach Reid downplayed the embarrassing first-half incident. He stated: “They’re passionate players. I love that, even if they chest bump me to the other side of the 50. I appreciate it. I just love that the guy wants to play and wants to be in there playing.” It was a classy response from a Hall of Fame coach and contrasted somewhat with what Kelce explained.
After embracing on the podium, Kelce said: “Man, it was uh … I’m gonna keep it between us unless my mic’d up tells the world. I was just telling him how much I love him.” Patrick Mahomes added: “That moment right there, that speaks to the team that we are. Everybody loves it. Everybody loves the game, loves to compete and Coach Reid wants to compete.”
It is all good when you win, and the Chiefs did just that Sunday night, thus allowing the ugly incident to be quickly forgotten. However, it wasn’t a good look for Kelce or the Chiefs, and CBS did no better by not addressing the situation more critically. It’s not ok to bump and scream in a coach’s face, and a lesser player would’ve been benched.
Featured image screen grab from embedded video
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