Travis Kelce Praises 'Resilient' Chiefs Ahead of 2024 AFC Title Game vs. Ravens

Ahead of Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce discussed the hard work and toughness it took for the team to get to this point.

In an interview with the team website (h/t NFL.com's Bobby Kownack), Kelce said the following about the Chiefs' ability to fight through adversity:

"We're resilient. We grew together. You saw the struggles, you saw the growth. I think that's what make us special, but you just come into that locker room, you'll see the chemistry. You'll see how much we want it for the guy next to us, and that's when you know you have a real good team."

It wasn't an easy road, but with last week's victory over the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs are set to play in the AFC Championship Game for a sixth consecutive season.

At 11-6, the Chiefs had their worst record during the era of Andy Reid as head coach and Patrick Mahomes as starting quarterback, and they hit their fair share of speed bumps during the regular season.

Kansas City lost its season-opening game to the Detroit Lions, and perhaps most notably, it lost four times in a six-game stretch from Week 11 through Week 16, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Bills and Las Vegas Raiders.

Even so, the Chiefs managed to win the final two games of the regular season and clinch the AFC West, but they had to settle for the No. 3 seed in the AFC.

An uncharacteristic lack of offensive output hurt the Chiefs during the regular season, as Mahomes had a down year by his standards, throwing for 4,183 yards, 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Also, Kelce didn't look to be his usual self for much of the year, and his streak of seven straight seasons with at least 1,000 yards ended, as he could only must 984.

The Chiefs seemingly flipped a switch since the playoffs started, and they have played their best football of the year over the past two weeks.

Kansas City overwhelmed the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Wild Card Round, beating them 26-7 in frigid temperatures.

Then, the Chiefs faced one of their toughest tests of the Reid-Mahomes era, as they had a true road playoff game for the first time last week.

The Chiefs faced the second-seeded Bills and star quarterback Josh Allen on the road in the AFC Divisional Round, and while it was a nip-and-tuck game that came down to the very end, KC won 27-24.

Perhaps most importantly, all of the key offensive pieces contributed with Mahomes going 17-of-23 for 215 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, Kelce catching five passes for 75 yards and two scores, and running back Isiah Pacheco running for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Now, the Chiefs take a ton of momentum with them on the road for the AFC Championship Game for a Baltimore team that went 13-4 during the regular season and has the likely NFL MVP in quarterback Lamar Jackson.

If the Chiefs can use their resilience to get it done on the road for a second consecutive week, they will go on to play in their fourth Super Bowl in the past five seasons.