Kelce (#87) and the Chiefs are currently outside the AFC's playoff picture. / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
As the Chiefs (5–5) prepare to take on the Colts (8–2), the game will require a playoff-like urgency from a battle-tested Kansas City squad, for the Chiefs find themselves on the outside looking in of the AFC's playoff picture.
Star tight end Travis Kelce admitted that the unfamiliar territory is “frustrating” for himself and the team at large.
“Man, it’s frustrating because it’s gotten to the point where we're 5–5,” [Kelce said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5vd_jStRXc) during the latest episode of the _New Heights_ podcast. “We're .500 going into the back-end of the schedule here. Got seven games left and we basically got to run the table. And I haven’t been in this situation in a long, long time.
The Chiefs rank sixth in the NFL in point differential, boast a top 10 offense and defense in terms of points scored and allowed per game, and still have Patrick Mahomes under center as well as Andy Reid pacing the sidelines. If anything, that's made the current state of affairs even more vexing for Kelce.
“And it’s even more frustrating knowing the kind of guys that we have, knowing the kind of talent that we have,” Kelce continued. “Knowing the type of coaches that we have. And everybody’s kind of just got to look themselves in the mirror, man. You can’t sit around pointing fingers ...
“Whatever you go into mentally when you’re frustrated, you got to kick that s--- aside and you got to think about how you're going to f------ attack the day. And you gotta put all the selfish s---, all the things that you want for yourself aside. And it's just got to be about this team, about the guy next to you. You got to have fun doing it.”
A tough test awaits the Chiefs in Week 12 against a playoff-caliber opponent in the Colts.
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