The Kansas City Chiefs returned to winning ways on Sunday.
Patrick Mahomes threw three touchdowns in a tight 30-27 victory against the Carolina Panthers.
The Chiefs moved up to 10-1, bouncing back from last week’s defeat to the Buffalo Bills that ended hopes of a perfect season.
And as Kansas City continue their march towards a historic three-peat – their main goal this season – Travis Kelce hit a personal milestone.
He made an early catch to take his total career receiving yards to 11,854, the third-highest number of any tight end in NFL history.
Kelce has now overtaken the legendary Antonio Gates and only Tony Gonzalez (15,127) and Jason Witten (13,046), have more yards than him.
While he moved up in that legendary list, Kelce was denied a chance to make franchise history on Sunday.
The 35-year-old is currently tied with Gonzalez for most receiving touchdowns in Chiefs history, and one more score will see him set a new record with 77.
He perhaps would have fancied his chances of getting into the end zone against the Panthers, but it wasn’t to be.
Instead, it was teammate and fellow tight end Noah Gray who scored two TDs instead.
Both, impressively, came in the first half.
Gray first caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to put the Chiefs ahead 7-0, and added a second on an 11-yard pass with 44 seconds left before the break.
He also had two touchdown catches in last week’s game against the Bills.
And with another impressive display, he became the first tight end with multiple receiving touchdowns in consecutive games since George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers in 2022.
With Mahomes sharing the ball around, Kelce will need to wait another week to make history in Kansas City.
So far, he has not found the end zone as frequently as he would have liked this season, and only has two TDs through 12 weeks of the season.
This time last year, he had already scored five en-route to the Super Bowl.
And with a historic three-peat on the cards, individual achievements may have to take a back seat.
Despite not getting into the end zone, Kelce finished the game with 62 yards from six receptions.
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