KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On the surface, this looks like a dangerous game for the Chiefs.
Sure, they’re the No. 1 seed in the AFC, have home-field advantage at Arrowhead Stadium — one of the most difficult places for opponents to play — and have the best quarterback in the game in Patrick Mahomes.
Here come the “buts.”
But … the Bengals, the Chiefs’ opponent Sunday in the AFC Championship game, have owned them of late — winning the past three games, including the conference title game last year, which Kansas City was leading, 21-3.
But … Mahomes, who produced 45 touchdowns in the regular season — 41 through the air and four rushing — might be physically compromised after he suffered a high right ankle sprain last week in the divisional playoff win over the Jaguars. Mahomes has practiced all week and head coach Andy Reid said Friday his quarterback will play Sunday. It’s possible, however, that Mahomes won’t be his usual mobile self.
But… oh, yes, the Bengals will enter the game having won their last 10 games.
The Chiefs are hosting the AFC Championship for the fifth consecutive season and, at the moment, they have one Super Bowl title to show for it. A loss on Sunday would be devastating.
And the defending Super Bowl runner-up Bengals, who’ve become chirpy this postseason over what they believe is disrespect, believe they’re just the team to deliver yet another debilitating blow to the Chiefs.
The leader of the Bengals and the root of their swagger is quarterback Joe Burrow, who cautioned that each of the three most recent meetings between the teams was decided by three points apiece.
“We know what team we’re playing, a team that has been to this game the last five seasons, and they’ve all been in that stadium,” Burrow said. “So, to me they’re still the team to beat and we’re coming for them, but we know it’s going to be tough. We know it’s going to be hard-fought, and we know the kind of players they have on that side.”
In the conference title game last year, Mahomes threw three first-half TD passes, and then Burrow led a dramatic comeback for the Bengals.
“Your preparation leads to confidence,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said during the week. “That’s just what you see from Joe and all of our players. So, when they walk on the field on Sunday, they’re relaxed.”
For all of those reasons, the pressure in this game is on the Chiefs.
“I’m sure a lot of guys are aware of the comments they’re making,” Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said of Cincinnati. “The Bengals have always been the rah-rah team, and they back it up. And they’re doing so again in the postseason.”
The Bengals, despite an offensive line that is missing three of its five starters, absolutely bullied the Bills last Sunday to advance to this game.
“Listen, they probably should be confident,” Reid said. “They’ve won three games [in a row against Kansas City]. That’s OK. We’re still going to play the game. They know us. We know them. And we’re all searching for that little extra that you can throw at them. We’ve played each other enough that I’m sure both sides feel the same way.”
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