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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was far from surprised when the Kansas City Chiefs made another deep playoff run that ended with a Lombardi Trophy.
In 2021 and 2022, the Bengals faced Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game, splitting those postseason matchups. In 2023, with Burrow sidelined with a season-ending right wrist injury, Cincinnati missed the playoffs, while Kansas City won its third Super Bowl in the past five seasons.
“They’re the gold standard right now,” Burrow told ESPN on Sunday as part of a marketing appearance with Guinness. “They’ve been to what, six straight AFC championships and four of the last [five] Super Bowls?
“So that’s where we want to be.”
The lone exception came during the 2021 playoffs, when the Bengals beat Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season. Cincinnati fell short, 23-20, to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI.
But when Burrow plays, the Bengals have been one of the few teams to enjoy sustained success against Kansas City during its dynastic run. They’re 3-1 against Kansas City with him in the lineup.
When Kansas City beat Cincinnati in their second AFC championship matchup, it snapped a three-game losing streak to the Bengals. In those losses, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes registered a 12.9 Total QBR in the second half and overtime and was held to a completion percentage of 56.8, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“It’s a team game, so it’s a team rivalry,” Burrow said. “But I’m cognizant of the fact that we’re going to be paired together in those conversations for the foreseeable future as long as we both continue to do what we’re capable of and continue to grind and put ourselves in those positions.”
Both have recently signed lucrative contracts. Burrow signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension before the start of 2023 that paid him the highest annual average salary in NFL history. Eleven days after Burrow’s news was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Mahomes restructured his contract to receive $210.6 million between 2023 and 2026, the most ever earned by an NFL player in a four-year span.
And for the record, Burrow said last offseason that Mahomes is the best in the NFL.
Part of Burrow’s self-evaluation this offseason is figuring out what lessons he can take from his injury-plagued fourth season as he gets ready for the upcoming one. He suffered a strained right calf in training camp that didn’t heal until the middle of the season. That preceded the season-ending wrist injury in his throwing hand in Week 11.
Burrow said he is currently considering potential changes in his approach leading up to the next season.
“I’m still kind of deciphering that in my mind, thinking about how I can mitigate that going into this year,” Burrow said. “Whether it’s gaining weight, changing my training, changing my lead-up to training camp that month before, we’re still working through all that and seeing where I want to be.”
When the Bengals played Kansas City in Week 17 of last season, Burrow was recovering from his surgery to repair the torn ligament. Kansas City won 25-17 and eliminated Cincinnati from playoff contention.
At the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis last week, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said the franchise was disappointed in its inability to make a Super Bowl run for a third straight season.
“We expect to be there at the end, so it’s hard to pick out bright spots when you’re not where you want to be,” Tobin said. “Ultimately, we want to make the playoffs [and] put ourselves in a position to win it all.”
Burrow echoed those sentiments when reflecting on Kansas City’s success.
“The blueprint is right in front of us,” Burrow said. “We watched it unfold.
“I feel really good about that matchup for our team. We just have to put ourselves in that position next year to have that opportunity at the end to go and win it.”
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