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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — Patrick Mahomes said he didn’t know Travis Kelce would return to Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings until he saw him on the field in the third quarter.
But Kelce’s teammate of several seasons had an idea that Kelce would be back in the Kansas City Chiefs’ lineup at some point.
“I feel like Travis had the same mindset as I do,” Mahomes said. “If you give him the window of he can get back in the game, he’s going to be back in the game . . . That’s why he’s one of the greatest is that he will battle through stuff like that and came back and made a lot of great catches for us.”
Kelce was a key factor in the Chiefs’ 27-20 win. He returned after injuring his right ankle late in the second quarter to catch three passes on a third-quarter drive that put the Chiefs ahead 27-13. His biggest catch was a leaping 14-yard grab on third down.
The Vikings took the ball away from Kelce after the catch but the officials ruled that Kelce was down when the ball was pried loose and their call withstood a Minnesota video challenge.
“I was giving him a chance, just putting it up to the big guy and he had a tough catch, held onto it into the ground,” Mahomes said. “Once you’re on the ground you’ve just got to get touched if you have possession and so it was a big time catch and a big moment in the game and we obviously were able to go down the score after that.”
Kelce scored the touchdown to finish the drive on a 4-yard catch.
Kelce’s day looked like it was over late in the half, when he went down awkwardly without being touched. He limped off the field, slammed his helmet in frustration and after briefly visiting with Chiefs’ medical personnel went to the locker room before the first half ended.
He didn’t initially return to the field with his teammates at the end of halftime but re-emerged from the locker room before the start of the second half.
Coach Andy Reid said he didn’t know Kelce would return to the game “until he came out and told me.” Kelce stayed on the sideline for the Chiefs’ first drive of the half but returned on the next possession.
The Chiefs scored on both of their possessions without Kelce, a field goal at the end of the first half and a touchdown to start the third quarter.
“Those other guys stepped up,” Mahomes said. “That was a big drive at the end of that half there for those guys to step up, make plays. [Backup tight end Noah Gray] always does a great job when he gets his opportunities and then we were able to kind of mess with the personnel [groups] a little bit and kind of have something going until [Kelce] could get back in the game.”
Reid said it was “pretty amazing” that Kelce returned. Kelce played most of the second half after the opening drive, including on defense at the end as the Chiefs snuffed a final Vikings drive.
Reid wasn’t certain whether Kelce would be available to play in Thursday night’s game against the Denver Broncos but said, “It was hurting him. He’ll be a little sore.”
While that would seem to make it unlikely Kelce would play, he already defied what the Chiefs thought he could do against the Vikings.
