THE truth behind the Kansas City Chiefs’ frustrations this season has been revealed.

Veteran tight end Travis Kelce, 36, played an unseen key role for the Chiefs this year.

ESPN’s Nate Taylor has explained that players were left extremely unhappy with the coaching they received.

Wide receivers coach Connor Embree has faced particular scrutiny.

This led the likes of Xavier Worthy, 22, and Rashee Rice, 25, to seek out coaching alternatives.

Taylor explained on 96.5 The Fan that the wideouts had expressed their concerns.

“I know the receivers themselves were frustrated with their own position coach,” Taylor said.

“Xavier Worthy, you can look at it, and it’s factual. Xavier Worthy, as a receiver in his rookie season, got better the absolute moment DeAndre Hopkins arrived.”

This is because he instead turned to Hopkins, 33, and tight end Travis Kelce, 36, for advice.

Wideout Hopkins joined the Chiefs midway through the 2024 season before leaving ahead of the current campaign.

Taylor has argued that his presence alongside Kelce has been more influential on the wide receivers than their positional coach.

Coach Embree has now been fired after an awful 2025 NFL season.

Embree joined the Chiefs as a defensive assistant in 2019.

He worked his way up to become a positional coach ahead of the 2023 campaign.

But it has not worked out with the Chiefs missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

Embree is expected to be followed out the door by several other members of the Chiefs’ coaching staff.

Interest has been shown by the Tennessee Titans for coordinators Steve Spagnuolo, 66, and Matt Nagy, 47,

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ former college coach Kliff Kingsbury, 46, is in line to take over as offensive coordinator.

The Chiefs claimed just six wins from 17 games this season.

This marks their worst campaign since going 2-14 in 2012.