The Chiefs have a Bengals problem... and it starts with Joe QB Burrow and the offense

Usually when asking Chiefs players about the upcoming opponent, the conversation is often framed as preventing an underdog from catching them off-guard.

Not so with the Cincinnati Bengals.

As Sunday’s AFC Championship Game approaches, the Chiefs, especially their defensive players, aren’t manufacturing praise. Their ideas about stopping the likes of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Mixon are based on past failures against them — and what needs to be fixed.

The Chiefs are 0-3 against the Bengals since Week 17 of last season, and starting with that game they’re 17-2 against everyone else.

The Chiefs have a Bengals problem, in other words, and it starts with Cincinnati’s offense and Burrow.

In three wins against the Chiefs, Burrow has passed for eight touchdowns with one interception. He has brought his team back from fourth-quarter deficits in all of those games, outplaying his counterpart, KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes operates the NFL’s most productive offense and is poised to capture his second MVP honor the night before the Super Bowl. He’s also looking to guide the Chiefs past Burrow’s Bengals for the first time.

The Chiefs tip their cap to the quarterback that has befuddled them.

“On top of the arm talent that he has, making all the throws — deep balls, short balls — he’s also very patient,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said. “He makes very good decisions with the football. Hardly every turns it over. With him you have to take it away. He’s not going to give anything to you.”

Burrow tossed a go-ahead touchdown pass late in the third quarter or in the fourth quarter of all three games he’s played against the Chiefs. The top passer rating game of his career (148.0) came in a 34-31 victory over the Chiefs during the 2021 regular season. The sixth best of his three-year career was logged in Week 13 of this season, a 27-24 triumph.

“He’s got a great feel for the game,” Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton said. “He gets the ball out quick. Then if he holds on to it and sees the blitz, he checks down and gets to his hot routes and does a great job with that.”

Bolton, a part of all three losses to the Bengals, said the Chiefs haven’t reacted well to Burrow’s secondary options.

“The times we’ve played them, especially the last time, checkdowns became a problem,” Bolton said. “(Burrow) was able to get the ball out to running backs in space and they made plays.”

Those backs, Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine, also have come up big against the Chiefs. Mixon, who missed this season’s game against the Chiefs, had 115 rushing and receiving yards in last year’s AFC Championship Game.

Perine had his best game of the 2022 season against the Chiefs: 106 rushing yards and 49 receiving.

But the Bengals’ wide receiver corps may be the NFL’s best. Last week, the Chiefs held in check the Jacksonville Jaguars’ formidable wide receiver group, led by Christian Kirk. That hasn’t happened in three games against the Bengals’ collection of Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

“They’re not afraid of one on one matchups and taking their deep shots,” Reid said.

This weekend, they’ll be going against a Chiefs secondary that essentially starts two rookie cornerbacks, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.

Defensive pressure starts up front, and the Chiefs haven’t succeeded there against the Bengals. They recorded one sack in each of their last two games against Cincinnati.

“You can’t let (Burrow) sit back in the pocket and make rhythm throws,” Reid said. “That’s where he’s most dangerous. You’ve got to force him out of the pocket. You’re not going to win if you don’t get sacks or turnovers. We have to find a way to get pressure on him.”

Without that, Sunday’s game could turn out like its predecessors, with the Bengals headed to their second straight Super Bowl and Chiefs still searching for the key to solving Burrow.