Chiefs’ Travis Kelce has tried to keep his focus on football

“I would say just find a love for the game, man,” Kelce said. “Find a love for the grind. Grind in getting better and finding love in accepting the challenges that come with that.”

Kelce, who was drafted in the third round (63rd overall) in 2013 out of Cincinnati, definitely is a grinder.

“I think this year, more than any year, we’ve been challenged on putting points up on the board,” said Kelce, who has 26 catches in three games in the playoffs. “The mentality in the building never changed. That’s where you see the growth and the incline of just keep getting better and better.”

It was not a smooth ride to the Super Bowl for Kelce and the Chiefs.

“What matters is the challenges in front of us,” Kelce said. “We were willing to accept that challenge and attack it head on. I feel like when you just have a love for the game and you have that love that wants to gain knowledge for it, everything just kind of takes off from there.”

As Kelce and his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, garner headlines around the world, he kept his attention on football in his 11th season in the NFL.

“I think I’ve juggled the perception of my focus,” said Kelce, who was voted to his ninth consecutive Pro Bowl. “I think kind of being aware of that. I never wanted to make the people on this team or in the Kansas City Chiefs’ building feel like I wasn’t focused on the task at hand.”

Football remains his passion.

“I love this game,” Kelce said. “I love coming into work and everything, so being able to juggle that and make sure everybody realizes my focus is in the right area, especially when I’m in the building there’s no distractions. I think that’s been the biggest point.”

He has embraced the spotlight when he’s not playing football.

“I mean the media is going to run with it, man, so you just got to be able to kind of control what you’re giving everybody,” Kelce said. “That’s the biggest way you can kind of control what they’re saying about you.”

The Chiefs are trying to repeat as Super Bowl winners. This will be their fourth Super Bowl in five years, and they are drawing comparisons to the New England Patriots.

“I mean, I’m still learning stuff from those Patriot days,” Kelce said. “I don’t know if you guys have checked out Julian Edelman’s podcast, ‘Games with Names,’ man, but I am getting all the gold nuggets from the stories from him, Gronk (tight end Rob Gronkowski) and the whole gang.”

Kelce takes those messages as a historical lesson.

“It’s just been awesome to kind of hear it from their point of view knowing that we’ve all have been on the outskirts looking in,” Kelce said. “They had an unbelievable run. It was the best football that we’ve really ever seen in the NFL.”

Kelce has a few main takeaways from his podcast listening.

“I think there’s a certain mentality you’ve got to bring every single year,” Kelce said.

However, Kelce doesn’t like to contrast the Chiefs’ run with the Patriots.

“I would never compare this team to that organization, that dynasty because I think we got something completely different here,” Kelce said. “I just appreciate being in the conversations with teams like that, but I think that what we have here is unique and special to ourselves.”

There are some similarities.

“I mean sometimes when you hear a story here and there it just gives you a reassurance that you’re doing the right things,” Kelce said. “That you’re in it for the right reasons. You could tell those guys love to play for each other. That was the biggest thing that I took out of a lot of the stories that you hear is that every single one of them remember those moments.

“They were there. They were present. They were around enjoying every single day going to work with the person next to them. We’ve got that same desire in this building. Buckle up, baby.”

Kelce is 34 and doesn’t know how much longer he’ll play.

“You don’t think about too much in the future,” Kelce said. “Obviously, you got to prepare for what’s ahead, but not harp on the past.”

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