Kansas City Chiefs: Travis Kelce Fined For Comments About Refs
By Ben Almquist
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce hasn’t been shy with his thoughts on NFL officiating, and there appears to be no price he won’t pay.
There is no doubt that there were two very controversial officiating moments in the Kansas City Chiefs playoff loss last week. The first was no call on a play where tight end Travis Kelce was pretty clearly interfered with. However, the other was much bigger as a terrible holding call was made on Eric Fisher that cost the Chiefs the game-tying two points they had scored. After the game, Travis Kelce made it clear he was not happy about it.
As a result of his expletive comments regarding the officiating in that game, Travis Kelce has been fined by the NFL. This isn’t surprising at all as it is a pretty standard practice. It’s the reason why you don’t hear more guys speaking out about bad officiating. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t think Kelce is dead with his opinions.
This is hardly the first time that Travis Kelce has had a problem with NFL officiating. In fact, he’s got a pretty steady (and entertaining) history when it comes to bad calls. That includes earlier this year when Kelce flagged an official for throwing a flag on him! It was a pretty comical moment, though it did cost the Chiefs some needed field position.
Travis Kelce is the GOAT for tossing his towel at the ref... 😂 pic.twitter.com/uBCYjWpHMB
— Athlete Tweets (@AthletePride) November 10, 2016
Of course, Chiefs fans remember the first time Travis Kelce made his thoughts on officiating clear. That came earlier in his career when Kelce responded to a “bad call” with a pretty provocative hand gesture. While popular with fans, that moment also cost the star tight end some money. You would think he’d have caught on to the pattern by now.
Related Story: Kansas City Chiefs: Travis Kelce Right To Be Angry With Refs
Get Over It
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Whether it was a bad call or a terrible call doesn’t really matter. Whether Carl Cheffers should be banned from the NFL or from the NFL AND Foot Locker isn’t the point. Travis Kelce has to get his temper under control. While these instances are all pretty hilarious individually, a pattern has emerged. The Chiefs cannot afford to keep losing field position, and risking suspensions, because Kelce can’t control himself. Coaches need to get on him about this.
Sure, I could start ranting about “1st Amendment rights” and how the NFL is silencing players. I could go off on a (legitimate) tangent about how awful the officiating has been recently. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Travis Kelce has got to do better. Yes, the refs blew some calls, but I’m pretty sure Kelce had some mistakes of his own.
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The Kansas City Chiefs are too good of a team to be allowing these kinds of things to derail them. Travis Kelce is a next level player who is among the elite at his position. However, until he can confront his issues with getting angry at the refs, Kelce will continue to do damage to the Chiefs. Andy Reid needs to address and fix this in the offseason.