No, the Chiefs didn’t get waxed by the Broncos on purpose to keep the Bengals out of the playoffs.
That’s according to star тιԍнт end Travis Kelce, who offered an expletive-filled response to speculation that Kansas City didn’t want to face the suddenly surging Bengals in the postseason.
The Broncos locked up the 7th seed in the AFC with a 38-0 blowout win over the defending Super Bowl champs, who rested several starters on Sunday.
“There’s some people alleging that it was a purposeful letting get your ᴀss kicked,” retired Eagles center Jason Kelce began on Wednesday’s installment of the “New Heights” podcast before Travis, 35, interjected with, “I ain’t scared of f–king nobody.”
“I wanted them in the f–king playoffs,” Travis continued of the Bengals, who kept their playoff hopes alive entering Sunday as the winners of five straight, including Saturday’s 19-17 victory over the divisional rival Steelers to wrap up the regular season.
“I want to slay every dragon one by one like ‘Mortal Kombat.’ I don’t even want this to be like we play the lowest seeds, just give me the best teams, AFC, NFC. Give me all of them ‘Mortal Kombat’-style, I’ll go through every f–king one of them. Just giving them my best f–king effort. I ain’t scared of a single soul.”
The Bengals and Chiefs have clashed in the AFC Championship in recent years.
Cincinnati took down Kansas City in January 2022 before falling to the Rams in the championship contest.
The AFC heavyweights squared off again the following January with the Chiefs besting the Bengals. Kansas City then defeated Jason’s Eagles in Super Bowl 2023.
The Chiefs knocked off the Ravens in last year’s AFC тιтle game before earning their second straight Super Bowl win with an overtime victory against the 49ers in February 2024.
Though the Chiefs won’t battle the Bengals in their quest for a Super Bowl three-peat, Travis offered an alternative.
“I’ll play them at the Walmart parking lot,” the nine-time Pro Bowler quipped. “I don’t give a s–t. We can have our own game in the offseason where we really duke it out. Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun-ᴀss f–king team to watch toward the end of the season and it’s a shame they didn’t make it in the playoffs because it would have made the playoffs that much more f–king crazy and that much more fun.”
Falling to 4-7 before the bye week, the Bengals stormed back from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ to finish the year at 9-8.
Quarterback Joe Burrow made an MVP case for himself, tossing career-highs in touchdowns (43) and yards (4,918) through 17 games.
The Chiefs will have a week’s rest as the AFC’s No. 1 seed before next weekend’s Divisional Round.
