Travis Kelce says Orlando Brown Jr. signing with the Bengals ‘hurts’

During Travis and Jason Kelce’s latest episode of their podcast “New Heights,” the Chiefs tight end and former University of Cincinnati Bearcat said former Kansas City offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr’s signing with the Bengals “hurts,” according to WLWT’s Fletcher Keel.

“It hurts,” the tight end said. “It hurts. It hurts my soul, man. It’s like watching your best friend just turn evil on you. Obviously the past, like, two years we’ve struggled beating the Bengals, so there’s been a lot of build-up in the emotion of like, I wouldn’t say ‘hate’ but dislike towards the Bengals because they keep beating us, and they keep talking about it every time they do. To see him to go the Dark side, it’s an awkward feeling.”

Brown Jr. joked that he felt he joined the dark side when he joined Anthony and John on the Orange and Black Insider.

The Chiefs beat the Bengals in the AFC Championship game by three points this past season, but the three games they played previously were all won by the Bengals. Cincinnati defeated the Chiefs to win the AFC North in 2021, then beat them again in the AFC Championship to go to the Super Bowl. Cincinnati would beat the Chiefs again in their 2022 regular-season game in Week 13.

Before the 2021 season, the last time the Bengals and Chiefs faced each other was in 2018 and the time before that was in 2015. They have played each other four times over the past two seasons, though, twice in the regular season and twice in the playoffs.

The two teams, being the class of the AFC, are destined to play each other more often as they will have to go through each other to get to the Conference Championship or Super Bowl, so it makes sense that a rivalry is blooming.

Before the show was over, the Chiefs tight end told his brother, Jason, he wishes the best for Brown Jr, even though he’s on the “dark side.”

“I hope he has an absolute Hall of Fame career. I wish nothing but the best for O.B. He was an unbelievable leader and an unbelievable teammate on and off the field. We have countless memories that I’ll f***ing cherish.”

According to the Bengals’ future opponents, the Bengals will play against the Chiefs in Arrowhead stadium in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. They’ll also play each other in Cincinnati in the 2027 season. And they’ll likely face each other in the playoffs several times over the next few years as well.

As of right now, the Bengals have the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl at +850, according to Draft Kings. The Chiefs have the best odds at +600. They defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII by a score of 38-35.