If you buy into bulletin board material, then you can probably pencil in a win for the Kansas City Chiefs because their secondary should be playing pissed on Sunday. Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase trashed their talent, even while acknowledging that, schematically, they understand how to defend the Bengals’ receivers.
Chase, who missed last week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and is not 100 to even play against the Chiefs, seemed to be intentional in his comments. At one point, he even said that he was adding fuel to the fire. “They’re gonna take this and run with it”, he told reporters, via Mike Petraglia. “Hope they put it in their locker room”.
Specifically, he questioned the talent that Kansas City has in the secondary. “That’s why they double everybody, because they can’t do it one-on-one”, he said. “The best player on their team is [L’Jarius] Sneed, and that’s a fact. Everybody knows that. That’s why they double everything they see”.
A 2020 fourth-round pick, Sneed has been a mainstay in the back end with 10 career interceptions and 39 passes defensed. Trent McDuffie is their other cornerback with Justin Reid and Bryan Cook at safety. Of the latter, he said, “I don’t even know who that is”. He added, “Just a guy to me. He ain’t Jessie Bates to me. You want to go comparisons? It’s not the same”.
The Bengals and Chiefs have forged one of the most high-profile non-divisional rivalries in recent years, to add more context. They have squared off four times since the 2021 season, Cincinnati winning the first three matchups. That included the 2021 AFC Championship Game, but the Chiefs won the rematch on the same stage a year later.
This is their first time playing since then. While the Bengals are without QB Joe Burrow, Kansas City has been in a tailspin, losing four of its last five games and five of its last seven. They are just 9-6 after beginning the year 6-1 and should consider themselves lucky to be in a weak division in which they are the only team without a losing record.
The Bengals, meanwhile, are in a division in which every team has a winning record. Kansas City is still just 3-2 in its own division this year, while Cincinnati is a horrendous 0-5. At 8-7, that means they are 8-2 against non-divisional opponents—of which the Chiefs are one.
“They can take it how they want it. I don’t care”, Chase said regarding his comments about Kansas City’s secondary, yet he left room for failure. “At the end of the day, it’s [only] so much I can do myself. It’s not like I’m Ironman. I can’t throw the football to myself. It’s a team sport”.
“They know I’m good. They know how to play us. That’s what it is”, he added. “But it’s not like they got a superstar on their defense”. He noted that they do not have a cornerback like Jaylen Ramsey on their roster.
But do the Bengals have the pass rush to harry QB Patrick Mahomes like he has been in most of the Chiefs’ recent losses? Trey Hendrickson, who has already set a team record for sacks in a single season, will do his best to keep up the pressure. And then Cincinnati’s tackles will have to buy their wide receivers enough time to beat double coverage or learn once again that scheme trumps talent.
