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These are the games the Cincinnati Bengals have reshaped their entire franchise for.
In their last (regular season) contest inside Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati hosts the Kansas City Chiefs with immense playoff implications on the line.
Everyone in the AFC is looking up at the Chiefs, as they have since 2019 when’ve they represented the conference twice in the last two Super Bowls. They’re fresh off securing their sixth-straight AFC West title, and are two wins away from clinching home-field advantage for the postseason once again.
There was a time this year when the playoffs were unlikely for Patrick Mahomes and Co. An eight-game winning streak led by a resurgent Mahomes and a defense that remembered how to play football again has put them back at the top of the mountain.
Joe Burrow has climbed this mountain before at LSU, and he’s ascended further than many expected in his first games 25 games in Cincinnati. Toppling the Chiefs and winning the AFC North this season would be incredulous, but not completely unprecedented.
18 years ago, Chad Johnson predicted his 4-5 Bengals were going to defeat the 9-0 Chiefs. A gutsy 24-19 victory ensued, and the Bengals officially exited their era of total irrelevance and entered the stable Marvin Lewis regime. But they were still a couple years away from becoming a serious contender.
The Bengals are serious right now. And they can solidify that with a win on Sunday. This story stream has all the news, updates, and analysis for the Bengals’ Week 17 matchup vs. the Chiefs.