Future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce and the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs got their 2025 season off to a slow start last week in São Paulo, Brazil, when they faced the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL’s second annual “Brazil Game.” The Chiefs dropped a disappointing decision to Los Angeles, 27-21.

Kelce wasn’t much of a help, catching only two passes and, in the first quarter, somehow running at full speed into teammate Xavier Worthy, who was then ruled out of the game with an injured shoulder due to the collision. Worthy remains “doubtful” to play in the Chiefs’ Week Two game.

With the defeat to the Chargers, after one game the Chiefs have now lost half as many games as they lost all last year in the regular season. In fact, in 2024, Kansas City did not lose its first game until Week 11, against the Buffalo Bills.

Chiefs Facing Crucial Game This Weekend

The Chiefs did not lose again until Week 18, in a game against the Denver Broncos that meant nothing in the standings or playoff seedings. Kelce, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and most of the Chiefs’ other regular starters sat out the game completely.

The Chiefs went on to lose Super Bowl 59 by a lopsided 40-22 score. With the loss to the Chargers, Kansas City has now lost two games in row for the first time since Weeks 13 and 14 of the 2023 season.

That’s why Sunday afternoon’s nationally televised rematch with the Eagles may be the most important game the Chiefs will play this season, despite coming as early on the schedule as it does.

Kelce, Mahomes and Co. will be fighting not only to establish their credentials against the team that humiliated them in last season’s Super Bowl, but they will be facing a team, led by two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts that has won seven consecutive games and 17 of their last 18.t

Kelce Cannot Afford Distractions Ahead of Sunday

The Chiefs have a tough assignment, and that’s why Kelce, fresh off making global headlines with his engagement to global pop megastar Taylor Swift, cannot afford any further distractions just 48 hours before the crucial matchup.

And yet, one of his close friends just created one, making a strong claim about Swift that perhaps is not consistent with the public persona that either the singer or the tight end want to project.

Comedian and podcaster Andrew Santino, a friend and golf buddy of Kelce’s, appeared Friday on the DraftKings-sponsored Pardon My Take podcast, to claim that Swift has essentially blackballed him from the wedding — though no date or locale for the event has yet been announced.

Swift ‘Controls’ Wedding List, Comedian Claims

Santino went on to claim that Swift “controls” the wedding guest list, and that while she will consent to allow Kelce’s childhood friends to attend, she would not allow Santino.

“I don’t think I got that invite. You know she’s controlling that guest list. I’m not on that list,” Santino said on the podcast, as quoted by the New York Post.

“He’s got a lot of dogs from Ohio that he’s loyal to the foil on that will be there for sure. They grew up with him and everything,” Santino went on to say.

“I’m an adult friend. Adult friends are different. We met later in life and I’m sure when they’re going down the list, she’ll get to Santino and be like, ‘Oh no dude.’”

Report: Rhode Island Wedding in Summer ’26

Will Kelce get as little say in the wedding guest list as Santino claims? That remains to be seen — bit at least one possible clue as to the wedding details has emerged recently.

The Post‘s Page Six site reported on September 3 that “a source” claimed the Swift-Kelce wedding will take place in Rhode Island, perhaps at Swift’s $17.5 million, eight-bedroom mansion there.

The “source” did not give a date for the nuptials, but suggested that the event would take place as soon as summer, 2026 — following the current NFL season — because the billionaire pop star and entrepreneur “is in a hurry to have children.”