There are only three things that really count here for this one. Lots of things have been said about this game, and I've seen a few of them -- mainly from Chiefs fans itching to get this one on. All in all it does really come down to three things:
The first is the most important one of all, really, and it is the one that has always been the key item: There have to be a limited number of absurdly stupid things happening to the Chiefs in a playoff game they should be winning going-away. In the regular season game against the Bengals there were again far too many of them, including the typical over-officiating against us and an inexplicably missed Butker field goal late.
The second is Patrick Mahomes just needs to have a decent game. That is, he can't have something like the wickedly poor second-half performance he had in last year's championship game. I don't think too many are worried he'll do that again, but there is in the back of everyone's mind the question of how he'll hold up on that high ankle sprain he suffered last week.
The third is our pass rush. Everyone knows our D-linemen have got to get to Joe Burrow. The Bengals have an injury-plagued O-line, we've got DPOY candidate Chris Jones and playoff-fever Frank Clark out there, and our guys led the league in batted passes which will be critical in keeping Burrow from making those quick strike throws between the tackles.
In each of those three losses we suffered to the Bengals last year (all in 2022: two regular season affairs and that playoff game), the Bengals played near perfect football and the Chiefs had innumerable terribly debilitating things happen to them. And in each of them we lost by three points, in each one, just three points.
Will that happen yet again?
Back here with a review in a few hours!
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The image was from Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs website, thank you.
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