If you come at the king, you best not miss.
Travis Kelce learned that the hard way back in 2016.
Before the rings, before the dynasty, before Patrick Mahomes had even been drafted, Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs were looking to break through as serious title contenders.
They had a prime opportunity to do so when they traveled to face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the 2015 season.
Unfortunately things didn’t go their way, as they lost 27-20.
To make matters worse, Kelce was seen mocking Brady in pregame warmups, only to get thoroughly outperformed.
Brady did his usual stroll down the sideline to get himself and the crowd fired up, when Kelce took notice and mocked the quarterback’s gestures with some of his own.
He has never admitted to it, but there’s a good chance Brady saw what Kelce did out of the corner of his eye, and added extra fuel to his fire.
The tight end would finish the game with six catches for just 23 yards.
It wasn’t the Kelce postseason performance that we have all grown accustomed to.
Meanwhile, Brady did Brady things.
The star quarterback finished the game going 28-42 for 302 yards and two touchdowns, with zero interceptions and a 103.5 rating, as well as a rushing touchdown to top it off.
It was a vintage Brady performance.
The Patriots would advance to their fifth consecutive AFC championship, ultimately losing to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
On the flip side, the Chiefs would draft Mahomes a year later and the rest is history.
But not before the Chiefs would lose to Brady twice more in the postseason.
Brady took down Mahomes and Kelce in the 2018 AFC championship and again in Super Bowl LV as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If not for Brady, there is a good chance that Mahomes and Kelce would be going for their sixth Super Bowl ring against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
Instead, they’re going for an unprecedented three-peat in New Orleans next month.
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After Kelce mocked Brady, the quarterback would go on to win three more Super Bowls in total, bringing his title count to seven, the most of all time.
While Kelce himself would go on to win at least three, and counting.
In the end, it all worked out for both sides.
But as with most things when it comes to the NFL, it was Brady who ultimately got the last laugh.
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