Can Cincinnati beat Kansas City twice in a row?

While I was enthusiastic about the tragically bad over the past 10 years Bengals being in the playoffs, I honestly didn't think that they would make it this far. I really didn't think they would defeat the Titans but that's exactly what they did. This weekend they will face off against the Kansas City Chiefs, who barely made it past Buffalo this past week.

The last time the Bengals and the Chiefs faced off against one another it was in the regular season, and the Bengals emerged victorious, 34-31. That game was electric and had a lot of people buzzing about Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow throwing for 450 yards. As much enthusiasm as I have for an underperforming team to make it into the playoffs and advance as far as they have, I honestly don't see them making it past the Chiefs this weekend.

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As much as I would like to see the Bengals have lightning strike twice, the pessimist in me says that they can't really pull that off. This is pure speculation on my part but I think that the game is the Chiefs' to lose and most experts are thinking the same. The thing to keep in mind is that the Bengals, as great as they are looking now, have lost 7 times in the 2021/2022 season. Yeah yeah, I know that the Chiefs also lost a few games, but they really found their form in week 8 and they only lost one game from that point forward to the end of the regular season. I'm not saying that any team out there intentionally loses a game but by week 17 when they faced the Bengals, they didn't actually need to win in order to clinch a playoff position.

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The Bengals has a magic game, and especially a magic second half in week 17 when they narrowly defeated the Chiefs but one really big blemish on their record is that they lost to their rivals, the Browns, twice in the regular season and the Browns are not a good team. The Chiefs have only lost a single game since October of last year and that loss was one that they didn't really NEED to win at the time. It might be a very different situation when we find ourselves in a "must win" game in the semi-finals.

A key to victory for the Bengals in both of their playoff games has been defensive pressure and they were able to force a bunch of turnovers combined against the Raiders and the Titans. They didn't force any turnovers the last time they played the Chiefs. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that Mahommes has a much cooler head than your average QB and he wont throw the ball away under pressure.

I predict that the Chiefs handily win this game by at least 7 points. This is based on the fact that I really think they are a much better team that just had a bad week back in December where they didn't really need to win the game anyway. I can't stress that point enough. The mindset of the players is a huge factor in the NFL and if the team hits the grass believing that they don't have to give it their all, they end up losing.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Chiefs are going to be a different team this time around because at this point in the season, every game is potentially your last. Either way this weekend is going to be really exciting as both Championship games feature teams that nobody really predicted would make it this far. There isn't a single number 1 seed remaining. While I normally just casually watch the games or even just skip them and look at the stats the next day, I'm gonna be glued to the screen starting at 3pm.

What do you think?