The greatest football players are the ones who produce in the biggest moments. That is what sets Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce apart. It is also a big reason why the Kansas City Chiefs are on the cusp of NFL immortality.

Both men are post-season machines. They are forces to be reckoned with when the stakes are at their highest. If the Chiefs are to become the first NFL team to three-peat on Sunday night then they will be the driving forces.

Last season, Kelce’s seven-year streak of 1,000-plus yards came to an end. Add in that he finished with a career-low of 10.6 yards per catch and people were starting to wonder if retirement was coming.

Then the playoffs arrived, and he transformed. Kelce went for 355 yards and three touchdowns from 32 catches over four games as he powered the Chiefs to yet another Super Bowl win.

It was a similar story this season, too. After just 97 catches for 823 yards and three touchdowns, talk of Kelce’s retirement has been bubbling away. He put that to bed on Monday night by insisting he still sees himself playing in three years.

But why would he walk away? Especially when he believes he can still affect the biggest moments of the biggest games.

Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ partnership has helped the Chiefs win three Super Bowls

Mahomes and Kelce have the most playoff touchdowns all time by a QB-receiver duo

Read More Travis Kelce reveals ‘hardest part’ of college drugs scandal that threatened his NFL dream

This season’s divisional round win over the Houston Texans saw Kelce at his playoff best. He went for 117 yards and a touchdown from seven catches and now comes into Sunday’s Super Bowl with the most catches in playoff history with 174.

He is only second to Hall of Famer Jerry Rice in receiving yards and touchdowns in the playoffs, too.

But where do you start plotting the demise of a relationship that has almost become symbiotic?

Nick Sirianni has led the Eagles against the Chiefs in every season he’s been Philadelphia’s head coach so he knows the challenge his team is about to face and has told them ‘to prepare for everything’.

He said: ‘What I see on tape is just the detail. I have so much respect for the players that they have. They have top notch players. And then I have so much respect for coach Reid and his staff of the detail.

‘I think the detail kind of oozes off the tape, with the way they run, block and are always on the same page. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for that. But you have to be ready to prepare for everything, knowing that they have one of the best players of all time on their side, with Mahomes. And they can do it many different ways.

‘So you have to be ready for all different types of things. It’s always going to be about stopping the run, limiting the big plays, tackling well, getting off blocks well, coming after the football well. We know we’ll have our work cut out for us.’

That message has clearly translated to Vic Fangio’s young and hungry Eagles defense. Safety Reed Blankenship was full of praise for Kelce and Mahomes and admitted they’ll need to be faultless to contain them.

Nick Sirianni said the Super Bowl will be a ‘chess match’ as his team try to stop the Chiefs

Reed Blankenship described Kelce and Mahomes as ‘freaks’ as he explained their abilities

Read MoreEXCLUSIVE Meet the man who styles Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow and some of the NFL’s biggest stars

‘You know, it’s a chess match,’ he explained. ‘He’s (Mahomes) a great quarterback, obviously, and just try not to let him hit big plays. He scrambles a lot more than people think and at that point it just becomes backyard football. He can do whatever he can. He can throw it all angles, too.

‘He’s (Kelce) another great player. I mean, you’re having two dominant teams facing in the Super Bowl. You don’t want anybody else up here, you know.

‘So each team has freaks like that. I mean, obviously we do, but you know, Travis Kelce is going to be one of them dogs that we got to take care of.’

When Kelce and the Chiefs lost 21-17 to the Eagles in the regular season in 2023, he had a mixed night. He scored a touchdown but 44 yards from seven receptions show Philadelphia handled him well.

Linebacker Zack Baun didn’t play that night at Arrowhead Stadium. But, as he looks to seal a sensational first season in Philadelphia with a Super Bowl ring, Baun knows it’ll take everybody to quieten Kelce.

He said: ‘It takes all 11 guys. It takes the pᴀss rush, it takes the coverage, it takes stopping the run so it’s not just one or two guys that need to focus on stopping him. It’s the collective of it all.

Linebacker Zack Baun may see a lot of Kelce as he tries to find space to catch the ball

Kelce and Taylor Swift are good friends with Mahomes and wife Brittany off the field, too

‘I think he’s (Kelce) really intelligent. He’s really smart in identifying the coverages and knowing where the weak spots in those coverages are.

‘He does a great job finding the zones and Pat does a great job finding him and extending the play and using his feet.

‘It’s tough to stop. You have the first play that’s called and then the second play within that play so it’s tough to handle.’

It would obviously be foolish for the Eagles just to focus on Kelce. The Chiefs have so many dangerous weapons capable of changing games in the blink of an eye.

But Mahomes and Kelce have the most playoff touchdowns all time by a QB-receiver duo and, with Kelce averaging a record 7.8 receptions and 87.5 yards per Super Bowl, it is quite simple for the Philadelphia Eagles: stop him and your chances of beating the Chiefs improve significantly.