Winning a Super Bowl ring and dominating the trenches for 13 seasons is enough to satisfy almost any NFL legend. But Jason Kelce still has a lingering regret from his playing days.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
During the recent episode of the New Heights Podcast, the former Eagles star revealed that through his 13 years in the NFL, he was never able to win against two teams. First were the Seattle Seahawks. Jason asked Travis to guess the second team, and after one failed guess, he arrived at the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Bengals are the ones,” Jason confirmed. “Never beat Cincinnati. Best we ever did was tied them. … Gross. But yeah, tied Cincinnati and never beat Seattle. Had a chance in my last year, and honestly, I’m the reason we lost, because I frigging moved the ball a little bit forward on a quarterback sneak, and they called a false start. It was that game. If we would’ve scored that drive, it would have ended it pretty much.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” the Chiefs tight end told his brother before the duo burst off in a laughing spree.
Jason Kelce was talking about the Week 15 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seahawks in December 2023. Kelce was flagged for a false start in the second quarter, at a time when the Eagles could have extended their 7-0 lead with an easy touchdown.
The Eagles, facing a third-and-one, were on Seattle’ 3-yard line. As a result of the penalty, they were pushed back to Seattle’s 8, from where a rushing play failed. Ultimately, the Eagles had to settle for a field goal and went on to lose the game 20-17.
“They’ve been warning me of that for years,” Kelce said after the game, via ProFootballTalk. “I had a tendency to do that in the past so they’ve definitely warned me before. I’ve got to be smarter, especially in that situation.”
While Jason kept banging his head for one mistake, it’s worth noting that he played a good role in tying the Bengals game, which took place in 2020. In the second quarter (30 seconds before halftime) of that game, Bengals’ Carl Lawson sacked Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz on a second-and-two. However, Lawson fumbled the ball.
That’s when Jason Kelce swooped in to recover the fumble. That save ended up setting the stage for an Eagles touchdown pass on the next play.
Jason Kelce, unfortunately, could never beat the Seattle Seahawks in the eight times he faced off against them.
Even in retirement, Jason Kelce’s winless record against the Seahawks and Bengals clearly still hurts. This year, younger brother Travis Kelce also got to feel that pain, after the Seahawks steamrolled the Kansas City Chiefs into a 20-3 defeat.
Nevertheless, Travis Kelce caught four passes for 44 yards and pushed his all-time career receptions to 1,104. That put him among the top five tight ends with the most receptions. He’s only behind Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, Tony Gonzalez, and Jason Witten. But the defeat still stings.
Kelce has now met the Seahawks four times in his career, losing two and winning two. The latest loss also ended the Chiefs’ dominant five-game winning streak, removing them from the list of unbeaten teams so far this season. That title now rests with the Minnesota Vikings, who are 6-0.
Travis Kelce and the Chiefs will face off against the Denver Broncos next, hoping to keep the Seattle loss a one-off in their record. Kansas City has already defeated Denver earlier this year with a 31-10 score.