Pat McAfee Had Two-Word NSFW Translation of Travis Kelce’s Chiefs-Refs Comments

ESPN analysts Pat McAfee before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce navigated his way through some tough topics on Super Bowl opening night from his plans to propose to Taylor Swift to his NFL retirement timeline. Unsurprisingly, the topic that made the most headlines on Monday surrounded Kelce’s blunt comments on the Chiefs-refs conspiracy theory this postseason.

Kelce unabashedly called out the NFL media for “leaning into the whole ref thing” during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl run, which saw Kansas City receive several calls that went their way during playoff wins over the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills.

ESPN analyst Pat McAfee thought Kelce was being too polite to the media and instead said what he thought Kelce really wanted to say.

“Travis always tries to keep it positive,” McAfee said on his show on Tuesday. “But he was just like, ‘Hey media, the f---?’”

“Like this is allowed to be an internet thing, but to actually start promoting this is absurd,” continued McAfee. “And I know that refs stink, so there’s going to be situations where maybe there’s a time like, ‘Hey, this ref’s daughter, massive Swiftie.’ And maybe that’s going to happen, and hopefully they get to the bottom of it. But I appreciate Travis just being like, ‘Yo, come on. Let’s use our brains here.’ The amount of people that have to keep this secret would be impossible.”

Travis Kelce was asked if he had any questions for the media..

I appreciated what he said #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/bUDhLvjxj5

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 4, 2025

NFL and Chiefs execs alike ripped the viral narrative that Kansas City was getting a friendly whistle during Super Bowl opening night, but the heated controversy likely won’t be going away anytime soon. 

As the Chiefs prepare to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles and look to clinch their third straight Super Bowl win on Sunday, their critics will only get louder and louder. It’ll be up to Patrick Mahomes and Co. to tune out the noise with their three-peat hopes on the line.

---

More of the Latest Around the NFL

feed