On the final Saturday in November, Hallmark decided to take three of America's top loves, football, love, and Christmas, to create a very timely movie called Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.
Clearly designed around the hype surrounding the very public love story between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, even if the movie was shot shortly after the 2022 NFL season – as you will soon see – Hallmark and the film's producers clearly understood the assignment of making appointment viewing for fans of all ages, interests, and genders, with enough KC cameos to justify a watch for football fans, too.
Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story was loaded with KC cameos
On paper, the story of Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story is pretty simple: Alana Higman, an at least third-generation Chiefs supporter, is up for the team's Fan of the Year award, with Director of Fan Engagement, the fictional Derrick, helping to state her case to the team while simultaneously falling in love with her along the way.
But Alana and the rest of the Higman clan weren't alone in the pursuit of the award, as other folks were up for the honor too, including former – then current – Chiefs player Mecole Hardman, who represented a social media star critter by the name of “Catrick” Mahomes.
The most adorable little co-star you can ask for.
Catrick Mahomes everybody 🥰👏🏼@tyler_hynes @HunterHaleyKing #HolidayTouchdown #tylerhynes #hunterking pic.twitter.com/MOv6ty9J8l— Ashley Regena (@poohbear0516) December 1, 2024
While working the room to help boost her case, with Higman touting her magical Chiefs hat that has taken the team to the Super Bowl whenever it is worn on Christmas – assuming certain conditions are met, Alana and Derrick met KC right guard Trey Smith, who is a big fan of the family story. Showing off his rings, Smith noted that the Chiefs need her hat to get the win in a fictitious Christmas Day game between Kansas City and the Philadelphia Eagles for the division.
From there, the duo met a blast from the past in former quarterback Trent Green, who was operating a football-throwing game at a Christmas carnival in KC. He got to throw the ball, prove he still has some pigskin precision, and even got to tell a joke to close out his cameo.
And last but not least, after maybe the real Santa Claus stole the Higman family Chiefs hat to show the meaning of Christmas, the entire clan was celebrated at midfield for being the Fans of the Year, with Mecole Hardman, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and George Karlaftis III all celebrating the accomplishment.
Now, for fans who are big fans of the Chiefs, you will know that MeCole Hardman left the team in 2022, and CEH only lasted until 2023, so this movie had to be filmed at least a year and a half before it premiered, right? At least the Chiefs stuff at the stadium? Potentially so, but another key signifier of age was Donna Kelce, who played a version of herself who worked at the family's BBQ restarunt. Despite being an in-universe Chiefs fan, she appeared as herself on the sideline wearing her custom Kelce-Kelce jersey with the front representing son Travis' KC number and the back featuring her other son Jason's number and nameplate. Considering Jason retired earlier this year, it's safe to assume Donna wouldn't be wearing her older son's jersey if he wasn't an active player at the time.
Oh yeah, and Andy Reid showed up, too, even if his few seconds of screen time were fully given away during the film's commercials.
So, was Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story worth watching if you are a fan of Hallmark movies? Yes, it was more or less on-par with the channel's usual quality, only with some added production value. But is it worth watching if you are a Chiefs fan? Maybe not if you are a cynical, love-hating single person, but if you have a family, friends, or significant other who likes the holiday season, then yeah, it's a fine watch with enough Chiefs references to make fans point at their screen like Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, which is also worthy of watching regardless of its Christmas theming.