Ex-NFL player Merril Hoge has shot down suggestions that Taylor Swift has anything to do with the alarming dip in form the Kansas City Chiefs are currently experiencing.
The Chiefs lost to the Raiders on Christmas Day, prompting comments from Undisputed Host Skip Bayless and OutKick founder Clay Travis, among others, that the singer's presence at games to cheer up friend Travis Kelce was a distraction for the team.
It's alarming form for the Chiefs, who have now lost five of their last eight games, but Hoge – ironically on Travis's OutKick – has claimed it has something to do with the singer.
Speaking to Dan Dakich, Hoge said of Kelce and Swift's relationship: “I can sum that up nicely – it's irrelevant.
'It's not relevant. That's a media twist. It just tells you how weak and stupid the media and people are.
Travis Kelce and the Chiefs lost at home to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day
Some analysts claimed that Taylor Swift's presence is a distraction for the team
“It has nothing to do with a locker room, they've never been in a locker room and clearly don't understand the National Football League and the dynamics of winning on Sundays – when you win, when you lose and the struggle that exists. .
'Someone who sings songs has nothing to do with it. Taylor Swift, listen, I know Taylor and her dad very well. Scott Swift, it's a great family, I love that family. I love them because they are a family.
“Her greatness, her brilliance – it would be like she doesn't have a successful album and people say Travis Kelce is because she didn't have a successful album.
'People would say, “What are you talking about?” It has nothing to do with it. She has nothing to do with where they are now.”
OutKick founder Travis compared Swift to Yoko Ono on X, writing, “The Chiefs are not a good football team and Travis Kelce looks like he should retire.
'He's been useless for the last seven or eight weeks. The double-crappy Pfizer shots may have caught up with him. That or Taylor Swift is the Chiefs Yoko Ono. Maybe both.'
Swift is expected to return to Arrowhead Stadium on New Year's Eve for the next Chiefs game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Then Kansas City – last year's Super Bowl winners – wrap up the season with a road game against the Chargers before the playoffs begin.
Hoge played in the NFL from 1987 to 1994 for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears as a running back.