Any Super Bowl hangover that the Cincinnati Bengals were dealing with this season has been left at the door. After an 0-2 start to the season and an embarrassing performance in Week 8 on the road against the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football, the Bengals have gotten things all the way back on track as they are once again looking like contenders in the AFC.
They are now riding a four-game winning streak that has them in the thick of the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference. They are now only one game behind the Buffalo Bills, who they face in Week 17 on Monday Night Football and the Kansas City Chiefs, who they just defeated this past Sunday.
The Bengals have owned the Chiefs during their recent matchups, as Sunday was their third straight victory over them, which includes a win on the road in Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC Championship Game last season. That victory has put the Bengals in a class of their own as an opponent during the Patrick Mahomes era.
Heading into the Week 13 matchup, Kansas City had won 26 consecutive games in November and December. Cincinnati is the first team to hand Mahomes three losses, including postseason matchups, in his career. The last time the Chiefs lost three games in a row to anyone was the Tennessee Titans from 2014-2019. Joe Burrow is the only player to be undefeated in head-to-head matchups against Mahomes in his career and his three victories are tied for the most with Tom Brady, who is 3-3 in his career against Mahomes and the Chiefs.
In those games against Kansas City, Burrow has played at a very high level for the Bengals. He is averaging 327 yards per game through the air with nine total touchdowns and only one interception.
Heading into the game, Mahomes praised the work of Burrow. He said that he believes Burrow is the best right now and that there haven’t been many people like him to come through the NFL. Ja’Marr Chase feels the same way, as he believes his quarterback is QB1 in the league right now.
An argument could certainly be made that Burrow should be atop that list. The Bengals are playing excellent football and he is a big reason why as he continues to play at a high-level week in and week out.
But, they know that the job is far from over. There is still work to be done in the AFC North, where they are neck-and-neck with the Baltimore Ravens for first place. After that, they will once again set their sights on taking down the AFC and representing the conference in the Super Bowl against an NFC foe.
