Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are headed to their fourth Super Bowl in the last six seasons after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship on Sunday. The future Hall of Fame tight end played a huge part in his team’s success throughout the game as he has in the playoffs year after year, and he passed one of the greatest players of all-time in order to take over an illustrious NFL record in the process.
Kelce Passes Jerry Rice For Prestigious NFL Record
Travis Kelce (152) passes Jerry Rice (151) in postseason receptions. pic.twitter.com/QNcgiIyMwH
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 28, 2024
After having a big performance in the Divisional Round against the Bills, in which he scored 2 of his team’s 3 touchdowns, he started off hot against Baltimore. In the first half alone, he caught 9 balls for a total of 96 yards, and scored the first points of the game on Patrick Mahomes’ only touchdown pass of the game.
With his 7th catch, he passed some NFL royalty. Coming into the game, Kelce had a total of 145 career playoff receptions, six behind Jerry Rice, who is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver in the history of the game.
Kelce would finish the game with 11 catches total, and now has 156 compared to Rice’s 151.
How long will Kelce’s record stand? Is anyone even close to 150?
Will Anyone Be Able To Catch Kelce’s Numbers?
Travis Kelce has tied Jerry Rice for the most playoff games with 100 receiving yards in NFL history (8) 👏 pic.twitter.com/htKS0J3Ku7
— ESPN (@espn) January 28, 2024
The only current player that has a legitimate shot is Miami Dolphins wide receiver and Kelce’s former teammate Tyreek Hill. He is second on the active list with 96 postseason catches, a full 60 behind Kelce. Unless Miami starts making some deep playoff runs in within the next few years, then he’ll certainly come up short.
Julio Jones is active, but it is highly unlikely that he will add much to his total of 77. Davante Adams has 72, and Stefon Diggs comes in at 69. No other active player has more than 50, putting anyone else at least 100 receptions behind Kelce for the all-time record.
By his personal standards, Travis Kelce had something of an off-year during the 2023 NFL season. He finished with under 1,000 yards for the first time since 2015, and Kansas City’s offense wasn’t the impressive juggernaut that we’ve been accustomed to them being.
But both Kelce and his team have shown that they can win when it matters most. He typically turns up his play and production in January and early February, and things have been no different so far this postseason.
The Chiefs will play the winner of the NFC Championship Game between the Lions and 49ers in the Super Bowl, which will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 11th.
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