Cincinnati Mayor may have cost Bengals AFC Title with shot at Chiefs

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval might have doomed the Bengals vs. the Chiefs following a cringing video taunting the Kingdom ahead of the AFC Championship. 

He couldn’t help himself. Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval could not help himself. No doubt he is excited about the Bengals, but he may have doomed them.

Ahead of Cincinnati’s bout with the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, Pureval decided to join in on the trash talk, but he went a bit too far by taking a shot at the Chiefs, notably Patrick Mahomes.

Asking whether or not Joe Burrow is Mahomes’s father because of past success. Seriously? Blasphemous and frankly, why would you do it in the first place? That is what Kansas City fans have been talking about for the past week, how Cincinnati cannot be quiet.

First, it was Eli Apple, then Mike Hilton, and now the mayor of the city. Granted, if backed up on the field, everything works out. But last season, Mayor Pureval talked well before the Super Bowl, and it ended miserably.

Fans of the Bengals and those who wished to root for the team found the message by the mayor corny and proceeded to call him out for it.

Bengals fans are not happy with the mayor trolling the Chiefs

There are levels of trash talk, but this is flat-out ridiculous. First, the “Burrowhead” comments during a city council meeting, and now this. If things go wrong on Sunday, any check that was written will not be cashed. There’s time to trash talk, but why not after the game as opposed to before the game while risking being embarrassed in the process?

We already know how Kansas City feels. Chris Jones showed it in the press conference, and Travis Kelce made it perfectly aware on the New Heights Podcast. They are hearing it, and frankly, they have had enough.

This puts even more pressure on Joe Burrow and the reigning AFC Champions. Past success does not matter. One loss and the season is over. A win would ensure a chance to get back to the Super Bowl and, this time, finish the job.

But nothing is guaranteed, and the Bengals have been doing a lot more talking than before. So far, they have backed it up, but KC is a different breed. You just need to be quiet and do your job. Plus, they are not the defending Super Bowl champions. They only won the AFC. The past does not matter, and it’s better to be quiet.

The mayor opened his mouth and let it fly. Players did the same. It is what it is. Pureval better hope his team comes through, or social media will do what it does best and eviscerate the video upon Kansas City’s victory.

The AFC Championship is on Sunday at 6:30 ET on CBS. The winner takes on the NFC Champion (To be determined earlier in the day) in Glendale, Arizona, in Super Bowl LVII.