{"id":173829,"date":"2025-07-01T20:25:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T20:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/173829\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T20:25:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T20:25:15","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-legend-officially-announces-surprise-nfl-retirement-end-of-an-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/173829\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs legend officially announces surprise NFL retirement – ‘end of an era’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Kansas City Chiefs legend has officially announced their surprise retirement.<\/p>\n

The AFC West giants have been reeling after their humiliating Super Bowl<\/a> loss in February.<\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Travis Kelce was considering retirement from the NFL this past offseasonCredit: Getty\"Travis<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Kelce pictured with the K.C. Wolf after one of their Super Bowl winsCredit: X\/ kcwolf<\/p>\n

They were smashed 40-22 by the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in the NFL<\/a> showpiece down in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Superstar Travis Kelce<\/a> had one of his worst games in a red jersey during the game.<\/p>\n

He then went away in the offseason where he considered hanging up his cleats.<\/p>\n

But the tight end, 35, decided to stick around for the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

However, the Chiefs<\/a> have now lost another team legend instead.<\/p>\n

The man behind their beloved mascot, K.C. Wolf is retiring.<\/p>\n

Dan Meers has been working at the franchise for 35 years.<\/p>\n

It was announced on Tuesday he was leaving after bringing a lifetime of joy to fans.<\/p>\n

And after posting about his exit on social media,<\/a> supporters called it the “end of an era”.<\/p>\n

“The NFL’s longest-tenured mascot is officially hanging up the suit,” said the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift shows support for Travis Kelce by flying out to reunite with Chiefs star for his other major career venture<\/p>\n

“Thank you Dan for your commitment to Chiefs Kingdom over the past 35 years.”<\/p>\n

Fans flocked to social media to pay their own tributes to him.<\/p>\n

“Remember he went out of his way to come to multiple events when I was a kid,” one said.<\/p>\n

“Awesome guy. Loves Christ too!”<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/a><\/p>\n

Another added: “We salute you Papa Wolf. Congrats!<\/p>\n

A third replied: “Legit sad day, but happy for Dan.<\/p>\n

“Chiefs football won\u2019t be the same without him.”<\/p>\n

And a fourth commented: “Great mascot, but an even better man. Congratulations, Dan.”<\/p>\n

Meers has traveled all over the world as the iconic mascot, since 1990.<\/p>\n

“I read one time that if you ask a man his occupation, you’ll find out how he pays his bills, but if you ask him his preoccupation, then you’ll discover the passion of his life,”Meers said.<\/p>\n

“My occupation was a mascot.<\/p>\n

“I paid my bills by running around in a costume, but my preoccupation, and what I’m truly passionate about, are my faith, my family and using my life to make a positive impact in this world.<\/p>\n

“That’s what I try and focus on each and every day.”<\/p>\n

\"KC<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

The K.C. Wolf is a beloved mascot who brings joy to fans at Arrowhead StadiumCredit: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kansas City Chiefs legend has officially announced their surprise retirement. The AFC West giants have been reeling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,6,578,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-173829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascitychiefs","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-section-sportamerican-football","16":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114779857047650601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}