NFL
By: Jalen Willingham
The Cincinnati Bengals will travel to Arrowhead Stadium for the second year in a row to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2022 AFC Championship game.
Since entering the league in 2017, MVP and Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes is 1-3 versus the Bengals. He hasn’t won a game against them since 2018 when Marvin Lewis was the head coach, Andy Dalton was the starting quarterback and only a handful of other players on the Bengals current roster were on that team.
The last time these two teams met was Week 13 of this season. Mahomes had one of his worst games of the year with 223 yards, 1 passing touchdown, and a completion percentage of 59.2%. The term “Burrowhead” has flown around quite a bit after the recent Bills game. The Bengals still have to go out and play.
Bengals Offense
From the first snap to the last, the Cincinnati offense punched the Bills defense in the mouth. The running game exceeded my expectations and Joe Mixon had his best game in quite some time.
With the Bengals offensive line having a very great game against Buffalo, the Chiefs defense presents a tough challenge once again. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is not a defensive player of the year candidate for no reason. He needs to be priority number one upfront. Starting offensive lineman Alex Cappa and Jonah Williams will most likely miss another game this week.
With Joe Mixon coming off a great game, Cincinnati needs to continue having a strong rushing attack. With key starters out once again, this may be difficult with backups regardless of how they looked facing Buffalo.
The Chiefs defense will most likely ensure that Ja’Marr Chase is double-teamed all throughout the game. This is only going to open up Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, and Hayden Hurst. I expect the offense to use the quick passes to whoever gets open first just like the weeks prior.
Opportunities and what the offense does in the red zone is of course going to be huge. When these two teams met in the regular season, Zac Taylor dialed up a very questionable reverse on the goalie instead of just taking the three points. That can’t happen this time around.
Bengals Defense
The Bengals front seven came into Buffalo and owned them. There may have been times when the Bills moved the ball, but they hardly ever turned it into points. So much for the snowy atmosphere in Orchard Park.
Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. He should be the unanimous MVP this year. Mahomes suffered an ankle injury in the Divisional round game versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is still going to play no matter what. It doesn’t matter how much the Bengals players may think they have this game in the bag. They still have to go out and perform.
Like the Week 13 matchup, Cincinnati needs to make taking away Travis Kelce a priority. If they are not careful, Kelce could run up and down the field all game. With Mahomes having an ankle injury, he isn’t going to be running out of the pocket while trying to make the spectacular play. Kansas City is most likely going to utilize the quick passes much more on top of ensuring that their MVP is protected.
Even with his ankle injury, I don’t expect the Bengals defense to blitz Mahomes a ton. They will rely on their main pass rush while dropping 7-8 guys back in coverage. Forcing a turnover would be huge for Cincinnati.
They can’t underestimate the Chiefs running game. Isiah Pacheco has been averaging 5.6 yards a carry in the last seven games. Although he hasn’t gotten more than 15 carries since Week 12, he will run hard every time he touches the ball.
Prediction
Bengals win 31-30
