How the Chiefs can avoid a third straight defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday

The Chiefs (9-2) are on the road in Week 13 to take on the Cincinnati Bengals (7-4) at Paycor Stadium.

And this is one of the more anticipated matchups for the Chiefs in the 2022 regular season.

Not only is this contest a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game, which the Bengals won in overtime, the matchup represents a showdown between two AFC powers with the postseason on the horizon.

“This is a real test to find out where we’re at,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said.

Sunday’s game represents the 31st time (regular season and playoffs) that these two teams have met, and the Bengals own a 17-14 edge in the all-time series. Cincinnati took both games against the Chiefs last season in exciting contests.

Expect more of the same on Sunday between two of the NFL’s top offenses and two rosters filled with star power on both sides of the ball.

Here are four key areas to monitor for the Chiefs, who seek to improve to 10-2 and maintain a one-game lead in the hunt for the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs:

TEST BENGALS O-LINE

After watching their franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow, get sacked a league-high 51 times last season, the Bengals set about this offseason to improve the offensive line.

The protection results, though, are probably not what Cincinnati expected.

Through 11 games, opponents have brought down Burrow 33 times, and now the Bengals are set to face a hot Chiefs defense, which has recorded 16 sacks over the past four games.

Defensive tackle Chris Jones has led Kansas City’s charge with five sacks in that span, and his team-high 10 sacks have paced the Chiefs’ defense to 35 sacks, which are the fifth-most in the league.

Why point out all those stats?

The Chiefs let Burrow get away during the AFC Championship Game, and Jones missed out on taking down the Bengals’ signal-caller during crucial moments of the contest.

“It was a driving force for this offseason,” Jones admitted. “You know, you always can look back and push yourself to do something better. And it was definitely a driving force of a lot of plays that I left on the field that I think could have sealed the game and put us in a better position to win.”

This time around, Jones and defensive end Frank Clark have a better supporting cast around them, specifically veteran Carlos Dunlap and rookie George Karlaftis, to help apply pressure on Burrow.

And getting to Burrow is a priority.

If the Bengals’ quarterback has time in the pocket, look out because of the highly capable receivers at his disposal.

FINISH THE GAME

The Chiefs held double-digit leads in both games against the Bengals last season but couldn’t hold on.

Losing the Week 17 matchup hurt last season, but the debacle in the AFC Championship Game stung the most because of what was on the line.

In that postseason game, the Chiefs jumped out to 21-3 lead before heading into the halftime with a 21-10 edge. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was on fire in the first half, completing 18 of 21 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns, and the Chiefs looked like they were on the way to Super Bowl LVI.

Then, the wheels came off in the second half.

Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense were a disaster, and Mahomes completed 8 of 15 passes for 55 yards with an interception in the second half. He was also sacked four times in the final two quarters of play before the Chiefs lost in overtime.

The Chiefs don’t need a repeat on Sunday, and Mahomes had a takeaway from the AFC Championship Game.

“Whenever stuff’s not going the perfect way — the way that we want it to go — just getting back to your fundamentals,” Mahomes said. “I think that’s what I kind of look back (on) when, especially when I watch the tape this week, is I was really good in the first half with my fundamentals. And as the game kind of — we weren’t having success as an offense — my fundamentals got worse and worse.

“And so, just whenever you get in those situations just trying to get back to that, getting back to your fundamentals and trusting in the game plan, that coaches are going to put us in the right position to succeed.”

CONTAIN CHASE

He’s getting healthy. He might play Sunday for the first time since Week 7. He’s a big problem for the Chiefs.

Yes, we’re talking about Bengals second-year wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who victimized the Chiefs in two games last season to the tune of 17 catches for 320 yards and four touchdowns on a whopping 21 targets.

Chase has been shelved with a hip injury, but signs point to his return Sunday. And if he’s on the field, the Chiefs must have a plan to disrupt one of the NFL’s elite play-making wide receivers.

The Bengals wide receiver took the NFL by storm in 2021, producing 81 catches for 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns in his rookie campaign. He averaged an incredible 18 yards per reception, making Chase a bona fide deep threat.

But the Chiefs must be careful here and not focus solely on Chase because of the Bengals’ other wide receivers: Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

Higgins has more than picked up the slack during Chase’s absence with 57 catches for 826 yards, which are the 10th most in the NFL, and four touchdowns. Boyd has chipped in with 41 catches for 595 yards and four touchdowns.

BACK IT UP

Chiefs safety Justin Reid gave the Bengals some bulletin-board material during Wednesday’s open-locker-room media session.

The fallout came swiftly once the video was posted on Twitter, and Reid found himself in a back-and-forth exchange with Chase.

Reid probably didn’t mean for his response of “I’m going to lock him down” on defending Higgins to go viral (Reid later clarified and tweeted that he meant tight end Hayden Hurst, not Higgins), but the damage was done.

Boyd responded on Twitter with a laughing emoticon, and then Hurst on Thursday addressed Reid’s comments in the Bengals’ locker room. Bengals safety Vonn Bell told a reporter, “We’re just going to let the pads do the talking on Sunday.”

Now, these are professional athletes and they typically don’t need extra motivation to play a game of this significance.

But Reid’s comments only served to provide another layer of entertainment for what projects as Week 13’s marquee matchup between two of the NFL’s best teams.

Time to back up the talk with some action on the field.

This story was originally published December 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How the Chiefs can avoid a third straight defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday."

Herbie Teope

The Kansas City Star

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