By The Associated Press
The Kansas City Chiefs will try again to clinch their eighth consecutive AFC West title while the Cincinnati Bengals will attempt to remain in the wild-card hunt when they meet Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs squandered a chance to clinch last week with a 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Bengals had their postseason hopes take a hit with a lopsided loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Chiefs and Bengals have met in the past two AFC title games with each winning once.
CINCINNATI (8-7) at KANSAS CITY (9-6)
Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, CBS
OPENING LINE: Chiefs by 7, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
AGAINST THE SPREAD: Bengals 6-7-2; Chiefs 7-7-1.
SERIES RECORD: Bengals lead 18-15.
LAST MEETING: Chiefs beat Bengals 23-20 on Jan. 29, 2023, in the AFC championship game in Kansas City.
LAST WEEK: Bengals lost to Steelers 34-11; Chiefs lost to Raiders 20-14.
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Bengals plus-8; Chiefs minus-10.
BENGALS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB Joe Mixon managed just 43 yards on 11 carries and caught two passes for 7 yards in last week's loss to Pittsburgh. He will try to bounce back against a Kansas City defense that did not allow a pass completion after the first quarter last week but did allow Raiders backup Zamir White to run for 145 yards.
CHIEFS PLAYER TO WATCH: Travis Kelce needs 32 yards receiving to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the eighth consecutive season, extending his franchise record and the NFL record for tight ends. Eight straight also would tie three other players for the fourth-longest streak in NFL history for players at any position.
KEY MATCHUP: Chiefs RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire against the Cincinnati defense. Kansas City's wide receivers have struggled, and the position is also thin now with Skyy Moore on injured reserve. And with RB Isiah Pacheco in the concussion protocol and RB Jerick McKinnon also on IR, it could be up to Edwards-Helaire to provide offense both on the ground and through the air for Kansas City.
KEY INJURIES: Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase missed practice this week with a shoulder injury. Chiefs CBs L'Jarius Sneed (calf) and Jaylen Watson (illness), RB Isiah Pacheco (concussion), WR Kadarius Toney (hip) and LT Donovan Smith (neck) also missed practice.
SERIES NOTES: The Bengals and Chiefs have met in the past two AFC championship games with Cincinnati winning 27-24 in overtime in the 2021 season and Kansas City winning 23-20 last season. The Bengals had won three straight in the series before the Chiefs won their most recent game to advance to the Super Bowl. The Bengals have won seven of the past nine games in the series overall going back to the 2007 season.