The Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Washington, D.C. on Friday to visit the White House in celebration of their victory in Super Bowl LVIII over the San Francisco 49ers.
This Super Bowl victory was the team’s second straight, making it the first team to win back-to-back since the New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004.
Super Bowl champions visiting the White House has been a tradition since the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1980, with nearly every championship team making the trip since.
Biden invited Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to make a statement during the celebration, quipping that “God only knows what he’d say,” seemingly referencing Kelce jokingly pretending to take the microphone during the celebration last year before quarterback Patrick Mahomes pulled him away.
“My fellow Americans, it’s nice to see you all yet again,” said Kelce, per the NFL.
“I’m not gonna lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I’d get tased, so I’m going to go back to my spot,” he said.
Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt also spoke during the ceremony. He said he was “incredibly proud” of all the players and coaches due to the adversity they had to overcome during the season.
“This season, with a target on their backs, they overcame adversity and got through perhaps the toughest group of playoff opponents in league history. They have etched their names in the NFL history books as just the second back-to-back Super Bowl championship team this century,” said Hunt.
Biden addressed the tragedy during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade on February 14, in which one person died and more than 30 were injured due to a fight that escalated into a shooting.
“We saw pride give way to tragedy,” said the president, noting later that “amid the chaos, this team stepped up” and that the country needs to “do more to stop the tragic shootings before they happen,” according to the Associated Press.
Near the end of the ceremony, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gifted the president a football helmet that Biden opted to wear during a portion of the speech.
After the ceremony, Mahomes told reporters that it was “cool to see him put the helmet on” and that the team was surprised by it.
“We didn’t expect that. But it was really cool to see him throw that Chiefs helmet on and you get that Chiefs kingdom kind of for the rest of the nation to see,” he added, per NBC 4 Washington.