Chase: Cincy 'team to beat' in AFC as K.C. looms

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals might be a couple of years removed from being the best team in the AFC. But ahead of Sunday’s matchup against Kansas City, the back-to-back reigning conference and Super Bowl champion, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said the team still believed it was the team that commands the top spot.

“Everybody knows that, bro,” Chase said Thursday. “It’s not ‘if.’ We are the team to beat in the AFC. And we know it. And we gotta play like it, too.”

In two of the past three years, the Cincinnati-Kansas City matchup determined who represented the AFC in the Super Bowl. Cincinnati won at Arrowhead Stadium in the 2021 playoffs to clinch the Bengals’ first conference title in 33 seasons.

The next season, Kansas City hit the winning field goal with three seconds left to win the rematch in the AFC title game.

Last year, the Bengals missed the playoffs after quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11. Cincinnati was eliminated from postseason contention after a Week 16 loss at Kansas City.

This season, the Bengals are off to a 0-1 start. Despite being a 7.5-point favorite in Week 1, Cincinnati lost to New England 16-10. With another loss Sunday, the Bengals will start the season with an 0-2 record for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

Chase dismissed the notion the Bengals need to prove they are still a championship-caliber team.

“All that noise y’all are making and stuff, we see it, we hear it,” Chase said. “But we’re not worried about it, you know what I’m saying? At the end of the day, it’s about the team and what we’re doing on the field.

“The outside people are not on the field, telling us what to do on the field. I’ll let them stay outside and make their own comments.”

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has won three of his four games against Kansas City. Dating to the team’s regular season in 2021, Cincinnati won three straight against its rival until the loss in the AFC Championship Game during the 2022 playoffs.

Burrow, who struggled in the loss to the Patriots — his first game since wrist surgery — said he wasn’t viewing Sunday’s matchup as a measuring stick for this season’s team.

“You’re always trying to go out there and prove yourself to the world, to yourself, to your teammates and your coaches,” Burrow said. “I’d say that about every single week.”

This year’s matchup will not include Kansas City cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who has become one of Chase’s top foils in recent years. But Chase still had high praise for the team’s defense and coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Chase emphasized the need to be sharp and fully prepared for whatever comes Cincinnati’s way.

“They always do a good job of coming with good schemes against us,” Chase said. “I feel like they were one of the best teams to scheme against us and know what we’re doing.”

On Wednesday, Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt made waves when he said Kansas City rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy‘s best — and perhaps only — attributes were being fast and running straight.

But that was mild compared with the barbs that have been traded by the teams over the years. Chase indicated everything that needed to be said had already been done ahead of another anticipated matchup.

“The energy’s there [on] both sides,” Chase said. “I’m sure they know we don’t like them. They know they don’t like us. So the energy’s already there. There’s not really much we got to say now to this point. It’s been four years now, so everyone gets it.”