Last night we witnessed the second installment of the Chiefs vs, Bengals in the AFC Championship game in consecutive years with the Chiefs narrowly escaping on a 45-yard field goal to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. After watching that game last night, I could not help but think “is this the next great rivalry in football?”
Are Mahomes and Burrow the Next Brady vs. Manning
For so many years we saw Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady in the AFC with Brady being victorious in 11 of the 17 matchups but Manning got the best of Brady in the playoffs, being victorious in three out of five games. Now as we look at the next generation of superstar quarterbacks, the matchup that seems to be brewing like no other is the Mahomes Burrow matchup.
Trash Talk
Obviously, there is no love lost between the two after comments were exchanged by not only the players this week, but the Mayor of Cincinnati Aftab Pureval calling it “Burrowhead” instead of Arrowhead Stadium didn’t help the cause. We saw players taking shots back at the Mayor and the Bengals post-game.
Travis Kelce: legend. pic.twitter.com/jWiGM1upMY
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 30, 2023
The juxtaposition of Mahomes literally thanking God and then @tkelce deliriously cackling & shouting “BURROWHEAD MY ASS!” is just perfect. pic.twitter.com/Gzh86Coq3k
— nick wright (@getnickwright) January 30, 2023
Travis Kelce was the most vocal as he called Mayor Pureval a “jabroni” as well as interrupting Patrick Mahomes post-game interview with CBS yelling “Burrowhead My ass” as loud as he possibly could. Frank Clark, on the other hand, had a few more profanity-laced comments after the game but the takeaway from all of his post-game interviews was that the Bengals are “bum ass” as he repeated the phrase over and over.
Chiefs vs. Bengals Ending
The game was as close as it possibly could have ever been as it took on play to decide the game as the clock expired. Although this was the game-winner the highlight surely was the late hit out of bounds on Mahomes by Cincinatti’s Joseph Ossai. Not to dive too much into that it clearly is not how the Bengals wanted their season to end and the only thing they can do no uses this as motivation moving forward.
BUTKER GIVES THE @CHIEFS THE LEAD. #CINvsKC pic.twitter.com/VOeIUlSRwI
— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
The elite level of quarterback play between these two, along with how great of teams they are will prove to be one of the great head-to-head rivalries over the coming years. It is tough to make this comparison with another generational talent up in Buffalo Josh Allen, who is 0-1 versus Mahomes in AFC title games and 0-2 overall against Mahomes and the Chiefs in January.
Moving Forward
Head-to-head, Burrow now is 3-1 against Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Chiefs however are set up to be just as dominant in the long run as anyone else with every starter from yesterday’s game being locked up until 2025-26. Cincinnati however, will have questions to answer as they must pay Tee Higgins after next season and then Chase and Burrow after that. So, the Bengals may be in some hot water in the coming years after those three come off their rookie contracts.
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