By Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce denied that the team intentionally lost its Week 18 game to ensure that the Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated from playoff contention.
The Bengals won their final game of the season on Saturday to leave open the possibility of a playoff ticket: they needed a Miami Dolphins loss and a Chiefs win over the Denver Broncos to make the postseason.
And while the New York Jets were victorious against the Dolphins, the Broncos thumped a Chiefs squad resting the majority of its starters 38-0, allowing Denver to clinch the last spot in the AFC playoffs.
While the Bengals finished 9-8, they would have been a tough challenge for any team, as they won their final five games of the season and had several league-wide statistical leaders, including leading passer (Joe Burrow), leading receiver (Ja’Marr Chase) and the league’s leader in sacks (Trey Hendrickson).
The Chiefs and the Bengals have had plenty of memorable postseason match-ups and clashes between their two star quarterbacks – Cincinnati’s Burrow and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes – have been pivotal in deciding who wins the Super Bowl.
Due to the two teams’ shared history, the nature of the Week 18 defeat from the Chiefs led to social media speculation that Kansas City intentionally lost to the Broncos to see the Bengals miss the playoffs, something Kelce denied emphatically.
“I ain’t scared of f**king nobody,” Kelce said on the “New Heights” podcast which he co-hosts with his brother and former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason. “I wanted (the Bengals) in the f**king playoffs. I want to slay every dragon one by one, like Mortal Kombat (the video game). I don’t even want this to be like we play the lowest seed. Just give me the best teams.
“AFC, NFC, give me all of them, Mortal Kombat-style. I’ll go through every … one of them.
I ain’t scared of a single soul, man.”
Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt disagreed with Kelce’s version of events, calling them “cap” – or lies – on his Instagram story.
The Bengals beat the Chiefs on the way to the Super Bowl in 2022, leading to Cincinnati players coining Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium “Burrowhead.”
A year later, the Chiefs edged past the Bengals in another epic postseason encounter and Kelce himself commented on the “Burrowhead” nickname: “‘Burrowhead,’ my a**.
It’s Mahomes’ house!”
And on the latest “New Heights” episode, the 35-year-old said he’d play Cincinnati wherever, whenever.
“I’ll play the (Bengals) at the Walmart parking lot,” Kelce elaborated. “I don’t give a sh*t.
We can have our own game in the offseason where we really duke it out. Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun-ass team to watch there towards the end of the season, and it’s a shame they didn’t make it in the playoffs, because they would have made the playoffs that much crazier and that much more fun.”
With the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Chiefs earned a first-round playoff bye meaning they will begin their postseason charge for a historic third straight Super Bowl title next week.
