That would certainly be entertaining.
When the Kansas City Chiefs sat their starters in Week 18, they essentially handed the No. 7 AFC seed to the Denver Broncos, who they were playing against at home. They had nothing to play for, having already locked up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye.
The Cincinnati Bengals not only needed the Jets to beat the Dolphins, but they needed the Chiefs to beat the Broncos. They didn’t. In fact, the Broncos beat the Chiefs by a score of 38-0, which sealed the deal for the 9-8 Bengals.
Since then, there have been rumors and accusations floating around the internet that the Chiefs intentionally lost because they were afraid of potentially facing the red-hot Bengals. Well, future first-ballot Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce set the record straight.
“I’ll play them at the Walmart Parking lot,” he said to his brother Jason on their “New Heights” podcast. “I don’t give a shit. 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-ass f*cking team to watch there toward the end of the season, and it’s a shame they didn’t make it in the playoffs because they would have made the playoffs that much f*cking crazier and that much more fun.”
The Chiefs went into their Week 18 game against the Broncos with a 15-1 record and absolutely no reason to play any of their starters. Had they suited up Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce and one of them gotten hurt, there’s a decent chance a mob might run Andy Reid out of Kansas City. These are professional athletes at the top of their game and are basically modern-day gladiators battling in front of a modern-day mob.
There is no room for fear in the NFL.
The Bengals didn’t miss the playoffs because the Chiefs lost. They missed the playoffs because they…
- Had another Zac Taylor patented slow start.
- Got beat by the Patriots, a team who fired their coach at the end of the season and were in the running for the No. 1 overall pick.
- Botched a field goal in OT against the Ravens.
- Couldn’t play defense through the first two-thirds of the season.
- There are more.
