Murphy 'cool' with Swift saga, eyes anti-hero role

EAGAN, Minn. — Global superstar Taylor Swift has attended the Kansas City Chiefs‘ past two games. Will she make it a third?

That question came up Monday in the locker room of the Minnesota Vikings, who will host the Chiefs — and a friend of Swift’s, tight end Travis Kelce — on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. That would be “cool,” Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. said — but maybe not for Kelce.

“Oh man, the social media is going crazy,” Murphy said when asked about the league’s embrace of the Swift-Kelce storyline. “And I’m not hating against it. That’s the world we’re living in. Is she going to come to this game? We’re locked in, but that would be something. I’ve been watching her since I was a kid. That would be cool, for sure.

“Not for him, because we’re going to try to get our hands on him in front of her.”

Added Murphy, who said he has never been to one of Swift’s concerts: “I’m going to say something to him to get him going.”

Swift attended the Chiefs’ games and sat with Kelce’s mother during a Week 3 victory over the Chicago Bears and Sunday night’s win at the New York Jets.

The NFL has fully supported the connection, and as of Monday afternoon, its primary account on X, formerly Twitter, featured three photographs of her cheering for the Chiefs in New York. The league also used the phrase “we had the best day with you today,” a reference to a lyric in Swift’s song “The Best Day.”

According to NBC Sports, the game was the most watched Sunday show since the Super Bowl with an average of 27 million TV viewers. Viewership among teen girls aged 12-17 spiked 53% from the season-to-date average for Sunday Night Football, part of an approximate increase of more than 2 million female viewers. The audience among women aged 18-24 was up 24%.

The Vikings are 1-3 after recording their first win of the season Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. The Chiefs are 3-1.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.