The Chiefs Suffer Christmas Day Upset And A Lot Of The Tweets Are About Travis Kelce And Taylor Swift (2024)

While pop megastar Taylor Swift can presumably do no wrong when it comes to her own fanbase, which will never stop obsessing over her Eras Tour secret song list while rewatching the tour on streaming, the same cannot be said for heartbroken fans and snide critics of the Kansas City Chiefs. The reigning Super Bowl champs suffered a somewhat shocking loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in a Christmas Day NFL outing, and fans were quick to blame the loss on Swift’s interview-hogging relationship with Travis Kelce.

Anyone watching the early afternoon game on CBS was treated to/forced to watch Taylor Swift’s arrival at Arrowhead Stadium alongside Santa Claus, as well as occasional shots of her in the box, celebrating and jeering accordingly. But another Sunday of missed opportunities and botched moments on the field caused the pitchforks to come out, with many aimed directly at the award-winner’s ongoing romance, such as the tweet below.

The NFLMemes X account wasn’t keeping mum on the issue either, sharing its own take on Travis Kelce’s supposed athletic arc regarding his extracurricular choices.

The holiday contest certainly wasn’t a standout game for Travis Kelce in any respect, as he came out of the day with just 44 yards on 5 receptions, and at least one dropped pass that plenty of viewers took note of. The frustration was palpable on the sidelines, far from Taylor Swift’s toothy grins and her “87” Santa hat, and was perhaps most suitably highlighted by Kelce’s helmet-throwing outburst, which inspired comments such as the one below.

And who doesn't appreciate Tobey Maguire's much-memed scene from Brothers also being used to try and blame an entire football team's losing effort on the shoulders of a romantic coupling?

To the surprise of perhaps no one, even polarizing sports analyst Skip Bayless shared his thoughts on the matter, saying on X:

Naturally, NFL commentators Tony Romo and Jim Nantz weren't completely immune to commenting on Taylor Swift's presence, with the latter even jokingly calling back to Romo's romance with Jessica Simpson, which was highly criticized by fans at the time for being part of the reason why his Dallas Cowboys didn't go the distance. Romo wasn't exactly quick to share in the mirth however. Here's how their exchange went, as sparked by the former quarterback's miswording:

• Tony Romo: His wife loves it. I mean, girlfriend.
• Jim Nantz: You’ve been down that road with that before.

Beloved enough to spark Taylor Swift nights on The Voice and Dancing with the Stars' recent seasons, the pop star will no doubt continue drawing millions of rabid fans to all of her upcoming music and other projects. (Although I'm now wondering if that rumored Deadpool 3 cameo will be a blessing or a disaster if it comes true.) But does she actually have enough "power," as it were, to affect football games?

For all the social media comments that were quick to take shots at Swift and Kelce's relationship, there were plenty of people slamming the idea of blaming a musician for a football team's failures, which was summed up concisely and without hyperbolic emotionalizing in this tweet:

Now bring on the theories about "You're Losing Me" actually being written from the perspective of a Kansas City Chiefs game, and that it's not about her ex Joe Alwyn at all.