The Cincinnati Bengals are preparing to play their second conference final in as many years, both of which will have been hosted by the Kansas City Chiefs. They took quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs into overtime the last time around before emerging victorious and returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in decades.
They will have to get through Mahomes again in order to gain that second chance at winning the Lombardi, though this time the likely Offensive Player of the Year enters this game with a bum wheel, having suffered what was reported to be a high ankle sprain last week.
The Bengals aren’t necessarily listening to what might be coming out of Kansas City this week regarding the health of their opponent’s quarterback, however, or, at least they are listening with a healthy degree of skepticism.
When asked by reporters how much he is paying attention to the various updates, officially or unofficially, that have been coming out regarding the status of Mahomes’ ankle, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said, “You follow the injury reports day to day, but you take it all with a grain of salt”.
The Chiefs released their first injury report of the week on Wednesday. The quarterback was naturally listed on it, but as a full participant, as were running back Jerick McKinnon and linebacker Willie Gay Jr. wide receiver Mecole Hardman was a limited participant.
The only thing people care about, of course, is Mahomes’ ankle though. That’s the story of this game and how healthy he will be. It seems to be a given that he will play in the game—he has already stated it himself—but there are questions about how effective he will be.
The former MVP had a record-breaking season with the most all-purpose yards in NFL history. He led the league in passing yards as well as touchdown passes and was named the first-team All-Pro quarterback. He may well win the MVP award again.
Beat reporters for the Chiefs have been eager to try to provide coverage of Mahomes’ ankle, including shooting a video of his lower body while walking out of the media room following a press conference. It appeared that his ankle was only lightly taped and he was moving without an obvious limp.
Videos of practice also surfaced, albeit rather limited, and did not appear to show a quarterback in any obvious state of compromise. At the same time, they didn’t exactly show him rolling out of the pocket and scrambling and making cuts.
The Bengals have defeated the Chiefs and Mahomes the past three times they faced one another, including late in this past regular season. While the quarterback has an MVP and a Super Bowl title to his name already, I’m sure that’s a monkey he’d like to get off his back.
