5 Ways Travis And Taylor Can Make Peace With Irked NFL Fans

So Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are engaged, finally — and what felt like one long gridiron-themed publicity extravaganza looks like it might turn into something substantive and beautiful, simple and yet complex: a marriage. Does that mean all the NFL fans (and Kansas City Chiefs fans, specifically) who have suffered through endless choreographed Tay-Tay cameos after Travis catching a 6-yard pass and falling forward are in for some relief as the Chiefs kick off their season Friday night in Brazil?

Not likely. The random cuts to dramatically cheering Swift and her carousel-like entourage will continue to interrupt the ongoing war between the hash marks. Ian Eagle and Kevin Burkhardt and Joe Buck will give the now mandatory updates about how many Swifties are watching how many minutes of NFL football, how many No. 87 jerseys they’re buying, and how they feel about the wedding preparation.

But in light of the generous and congenial spirit of marriage and the approaching wedding season, however, here are five things the affianced couple can do to make peace with the fans they’ve nearly driven nuts over the past few seasons.

1. Get Married

Travis and Taylor breaking off their engagement (or dragging it out for the next decade) would just confirm the skeptics’ suspicions that the whole shebang is about branding and more break-up song iterations, so Travis and Taylor should prove them wrong and take it all the way to the altar. Despite what the media would have people believe, marriage is wonderful and infinitely superior to the endless romantic relationship drama glamorized on television; they’re in for a good time, and they’re right to be excited about it. (For what it’s worth, a private ceremony sounds like a great idea, and Jason Kelce should definitely be the best man.)

That said, will their marriage spark a flurry of new unions? That might be overly optimistic, but as much as it’s misguided to simply pattern one’s life after that of the celebrities, cultural phenoms like Swift and Kelce have a lot of influence, and their getting married would set an example worth following.

2. Catch Some Touchdowns

Just to clarify, red-blooded NFL fanatics don’t want Taylor anywhere near the hash marks, so this point is all about Travis. Admittedly, fans who are outside Chiefs Kingdom and don’t have Travis on their fantasy teams will probably take issue with this point, so maybe this is just for the KC faithful, but Kelce needs to get back in the endzone this year.

In 2024, he scored just three touchdowns (the fewest of his career), and the Chiefs finished a dismal 22nd in red zone offense. Kelce has taken responsibility for his dip in performance, saying he was distracted, not by Swift, but by his budding acting career. This may be his last chance to get things together.

3. Write Songs About Good Stuff

Travis does sing, sort of, apparently, but this is for Taylor. My colleague Mark Hemingway has observed that Swift’s music is “utterly defined by self-obsession rather than introspection,” and “aside from generally objectionable thematic content, it’s also true that a great many of her lyrics are just so forced as to be terrible.”

In other words, not great. But maybe Swift can win some football fans over by ditching tortured poets, showgirls, and me-centric lyrics in favor of some songs about God, family, sports, matrimonial love, and America. If that means just going back to country, then so be it.

4. Embrace Normie

Swift and Kelce could do themselves (and everyone else) a favor by moving away from the sexualized album covers and whatever was happening in this GQ photo shoot and toward normal — if for no other reason than that normal is back in style. After years of LGBT activist-driven tyranny, traditional masculinity and femininity are making a comeback, even if it still drives leftists (and company) insane when it’s suggested that Travis and Taylor should model their marriage on the pattern set forth in Scripture.

Swift baking Pop-Tarts for the Chiefs’ offensive line and Kelce getting down on one knee to pop the question against the backdrop of a flower-covered arch is good stuff and pretty normal — especially in a day and age when the media rave nonstop about legal girlbosses shoving amicus briefs down their opponents’ throats and do everything they can to peddle alternatives to marriage. Travis and Taylor should lean into their normal side.

5. Have Kiddos

Every time a Swift sighting interrupts a football game, Chiefs Kingdom is missing out on Patrick Mahomes chewing on his mouthguard or Andy Reid’s mustache growing icicles — in other words, one more moment of this magical run that includes five Super Bowl appearances and six straight AFC Championship games. Those interruptions are worth begrudging because when Mahomes and Reid are gone, the Chiefs will probably end up with a quarterback named Huey McTweedle and go back to losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Indianapolis Colts every year.

But Travis and Taylor leading their little kiddos onto the field after 40-year-old Mahomes wins his final Super Bowl in 2036 would pretty much make the interruptions worth it. Kelce and Swift reportedly want kids “sooner rather than later,” and if Jason’s wisdom has worn off on Travis, they’ll get them.

In his emotional retirement speech, Jason praised his wife, Kylie, for giving him “three beautiful girls and a life that increasingly brings me more fulfillment off the field than it does on. We’ve we’ve had a great run Ky.” He then added, “I think one of the best things a person can be in this world is a father — a father who is present, loving, devoted just may be the greatest gift a child could ask for in our society. And I have a d-mn good one.”

Will little Travis-Taylor kiddos cause a baby boom, save Western civilation, and restore order to the galaxy? Well, maybe. However, they shouldn’t have babies just to boost America’s record-low fertility rate (though every little bit helps), but rather because giving the gift of life is one of God’s greatest blessings — for those who give and for those who receive.

Travis and Taylor moving the ball down the field in all five categories might not enchant the curmudgeonly-feeling football fans who’ve had their fall and winter Sunday football rituals invaded by Swifties, relational drama, and pop culture, but it might help them endure one more NFL season of Tayvis or Traylor or whatever this is now.

Joshua Monnington is an assistant editor at The Federalist. He was previously an editor at Regnery Publishing and is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.