Trash talk is a fine art, not a science, and there is no one universal approach. Some like to take greater risks when doing their trash talk in public, or before an event takes place. That approach backfired pretty hard on the Cincinnati Bengals after the Kansas City Chiefs sent them packing in the AFC Championship game. Chiefs linebacker Frank Clark can respect where they were coming from, though.
“They deserved it”, he said during Super Bowl media week, referring to their right to talk trash after beating Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes three games in a row, as transcribed by Myles Simmons for Pro Football Talk. “You have the right to say those different things. And it’s a game at the end of the day, you want to have fun with it”.
Clark admitted that he’s not totally immune to trash talk himself, though he doesn’t always take that approach. “It’s just one of those classic examples [of], you talk your trash after the game. You know what I mean? That’s kind of what we did. Kind of let them have it”.
They certainly did, and cornerbacks Eli Apple and Mike Hilton, both of whom have been rather silent since the loss, got the worst of it. Apple has one of the biggest mouths in the league, especially on social media, while Hilton’s declaration that the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium was ‘Burrowhead’ did not go over well at all in Kansas City’s locker room.
The bragging rights go to the winners, though, and now the Bengals are the losers. They surely must have understood the consequences of losing this game after talking so much trash in the build-up, so they can’t be surprised by what followed.
Not that Cincinnati as a team has anything to be ashamed about. As of the start of the 2021 season, they had not won a playoff game in three decades. They’ve won five since then, including two conference finals appearances and one Super Bowl appearance.
Even if they are still seeking their first NFL championship, they have achieved a great deal in a short time during the Joe Burrow era, their young quarterback who has inspired in the entire organization a heightened degree of confidence and swagger, and belief in their ability to achieve.
It’s one thing to talk, and another to be able to back it up. To their credit, the Bengals have backed up most of it over the past couple of seasons, but you’re never going to come away unscathed unless you’re hoisting the last trophy at the end of the season.
But they know they have as good a chance as any to be back in that spot, as do the Chiefs. Clark admitted that the Bengals have “slowly become one of our rivals” and that he was glad to not have to face them again. But added, “They’ve got a whole ‘nother year to wait” now because of Kansas City.
