Hailee Steinfeld's secretive charm defies Taylor Swift's NFL hoopla for Bills-Chiefs

Josh Allen's fiancée purposely goes unnoticed at Bills games. The global icon Swift is always the center of attention at Chiefs games. Is one way better?
Hailee Steinfeld attends the Golden Globes Awards ceremony on Jan. 7, 2024.
Hailee Steinfeld attends the Golden Globes Awards ceremony on Jan. 7, 2024. / IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Hailee Steinfeld and Taylor Swift have a history together.

Way back in 20213, the global icon invited the then burgeoning acting ingenue, after Steinfeld first burst onto the scene in "True Grit" when she was 13 years old, to be in the music video for a little song called "Bad Blood."

RELATED: Hailee Steinfeld-Taylor Swift photos together resurface for Bills-Chiefs showdown

Hailee Steinfeld
Nov. 3, 2024: Bills quarterback Josh Allen's girlfriend Hailee Steinfeld poses with former F1 star Daniel Ricciardo, Heidi Berger, and more at Highmark Stadium. / @zackashley/Instagram

As they say, the rest is history. The "Bad Blood" video, also featuring Kendrick Lamar, now the headliner for this year's Super Bowl halftime show, was the perfect vehicle for the smash hit single, eventually winning the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. "Bad Blood" became a generational song for a generational talent. Yep, we'd say both Swift and Steinfeld got that one right.

It must be surreal for Steinfeld, 28, and Swift, 35, to find themselves 12 years later rooting for NFL superstars, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce respectively, with so much on the line for both of them and their legacies.

RELATED: Hailee Steinfeld's overlooked unreal gesture with Josh Allen at viral Bills party

Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, and Lyndsay Bell
Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, and Lyndsay Bell recreate their "new [pregnancy] bump" photo. / Brittany Mahomes/Instagram

Media tornado Swift vs. Stealth Steinfeld

Swift is a walking tentpole event every time she shows up to a Chiefs game. Whichever network broadcasts the game makes her a front and center storyline, always cutting to her throughout. The NFL loves the attention. While many fans complain about the coverage, the numbers don't lie. When Swift shows up, ratings records are smashed. Even against the non-marquee Houston Texans, the AFC divisional game shattered ESPN's previous mark. Cut to Swift and new bestie Caitlin Clark celebrating Kelce's TD.

Steinfeld, on the other hand, goes out of her way to go unnoticed at Bills games. It takes every diehard Hailee fan account, or what the actor and aspiring fashion influencer chooses to write in her weekly Beau Society newsletter, to decipher if she's at the games or if she's even paying attention. For the record, she very much is paying attention and seems to attend most games. But that's rarely discovered in real time.

RELATED: Brittany Mahomes receives amazing personal Taylor Swift baby gift for Golden

Hailee Steinfeld
Jan, 12, 2025: Bills quarterback Josh Allen's fiancée Hailee Steinfeld (in red) at Highmark Stadium during the playoffs. / @haileewatson/Instagram

What's your man got to do with me?

Their NFL partners' personalities probably have something to do with it as well. Kelce, 35, wants to be a media and entertainment star once he retires, already planting the seeds with the monster nine-figure "New Heights" podcast deal with his brother Jason, acting in the Ryan Murphy F/X horror series "Grotesquerie," and hosting the game show, "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?," just to name a few.

Allen, 28, seems to have no such aspirations, at least at this point in his career. Sure, he has some big-time endorsements, but for the most part he seems to also like his personal life to stay personal.

Kelce and Swift gallivant on private jets to New York City any chance they get, even during the season. Allen and Steinfeld seem to hang around Buffalo, including Wegmans, unless of course they have a tropical vacation to oh, get engaged.

RELATED: Hailee Steinfeld never-before-seen photo surfaces before Bills-Ravens playoff game

Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee Steinfeld attends the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. / IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Only one NFL WAG queen shall prevail

It's the perfect microcosm of the respective teams about to face each other in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. The Chiefs have become loved or hated as much as the Dallas Cowboys. The Bills, now with the Detroit Lions out of the equation, are the one team every other NFL fan would like to see win the Super Bowl with such a tortured past.

Steinfeld and Swift will vehemently be rooting on their men. The global icon will get all the attention.

Unless Steinfeld and Swift pull of the ultimate marketing master -class move and show up together. Now that would be something. No "Bad Blood."

Bills fans might disagree.

Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes watch the Kansas City Chiefs host the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. / IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

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Matthew Graham
MATTHEW GRAHAM

Matthew Graham has over 20 years of media experience and oversees The Athlete Lifestyle On SI. He has had previous leadership roles at NBC Sports, Yahoo, and USA TODAY, where he co-founded For The Win (named Best Mobile Site by Digiday). He has also written for ESPN, Cosmopolitan, US Weekly, People, E! Online, and FHM, covering major sports and entertainment events like the Oscars, the Golden Globes, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, and winning the Yahoo Superstar Award for coverage of the Olympics.