The Kansas City Chiefs have touched down in Denver after a day of travel chaos that saw their flight to Colorado delayed for hours.
The back-to-back Super Bowl champions face the Broncos in their final regular season game of the NFL season on Sunday.
After a winter storm left them stranded on the runway for four hours, the Chiefs eventually left Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce among those seen walking off the plane in snowy Denver on Saturday night.
Quarterback Mahomes is being rested for the game against the Broncos, with the Chiefs having already secured the No 1 seed in the AFC.
There was some doubt over whether Mahomes would travel with the team, given he and his wife Brittany is expecting their third child ‘any day now’.
Kelce could also sit out Sunday’s game but the tight end was filmed walking on to the runway in Colorado, too.
The Kansas City Chiefs have touched down in Denver after a chaotic day of travel
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were among the players who travelled to Colorado
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was seen coming off the plane in snowy Colorado
Touched down in Denver
pic.twitter.com/trPB8L9mLW
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 5, 2025
According to Fox4 News, the Chiefs were originally due to leave for Denver around 2:45pm on Saturday. But it wasn’t until around 6:30pm ET when they finally set off.
The storm led to ‘rapid ice accumulation’ and forced the authorities to close the airfield at Kansas City International Airport – before the Chiefs could leave.
Andy Reid‘s side take on the 9-7 Broncos at 4:25pm ET on Sunday. It is typically only a two-hour flight from Kansas City to Denver. But their travel plays hit a further snag on Saturday.
According to Fox4 News, the airport’s de-icing machine malfunctioned, delaying the departure of flights.
Some planes, it was said, were even diverted to Omaha, Nebraska – more than 500 miles east of Denver.
According to reports, the Chiefs attempted to alter their travel plans in order to leave earlier in the day.
But the charter plane carrying them to Denver was late arriving into Kansas City, forcing Reid and Co to stick to their scheduled departure time.
Shortly after 5:30pm ET, it was announced that the runways would soon reopen ‘and resume normal operations’.
