There’s nothing like some summer beef to add juice to the National Football League’s self-imposed chill-out time, but not all beef is created equal.
There’s beef we barely notice, like when lesser-known players on marginally relevant teams go at it on social meda. There’s historic beef between teams that don’t like each other because that’s just the way it has always been (think Packers and Bears).
And sometimes, when we’re fortunate, there’s beef that just so happens to turn into something irresistible, because the names are big enough, the rivalry is real enough and the characters are interesting enough that you feel the taunts and jibes and slights and tweets are just scratching the surface of the real competitiveness beneath.
When that happens, like it currently seems to be with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, it becomes a thing of offseason beauty, heated, prepared and cooked perfectly, like a choice cut of, well, beef.
A quick crash course might be needed here, because this saga roiled into life quickly.
During media availability at the Bengals’ mandatory minicamp earlier this month, Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow proclaimed his Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes as the best QB in the league. Outspoken Cincy wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase disagreed, insisted Burrow was the NFL’s best player overall and then issued the line that got the whole thing rolling.
“Pat who?” he told reporters.
Mahomes tapped back with a social media post showing off his pair of Super Bowl rings and the caption “that’s who,” before Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, who surely has a WWE future ahead of him should he wish for it — and certainly knows how to cut a wrestling-style promo — got spiky on the podcast he shares with his brother Jason.
“It is what it is, dog,” Kelce said. “Who doesn’t love some good locker room banter, man? Shoutout to Ja’Marr Chase for holding it down for his QB, but don’t you ever disrespect Pat Mahomes now. If you want to talk your s—, talk your s—, pimp. Just better back it up.”
So much for a sleepy summer.
Chase is talker-in-chief for the Bengals and is entirely unabashed. And why not? The 23-year-old has boundless talent and backed up his Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign with one that cemented him as one of the very best receivers in the league. He believes unequivocally in himself and, perhaps most empoweringly, has found himself in a dream spot to start his NFL career.
When it comes to the Bengals’ seemingly irrepressible wish to position themselves as the NFL’s modern villains, he is happy to not just play the part, but stir the pot whenever it needs stirring – and occasionally when it doesn’t.
The Bengals have a sense that they’re at their best with a chip on their shoulder and the feeling that everyone is against them. It is a thought process very much in keeping with Cincinnati’s blue-collar roots and also the team’s rise from years of misery — and it most certainly came into play during the playoffs.
Cincinnati jumped all over the NFL’s decision to start selling tickets for what would have been a neutral-site AFC Championship between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, arranged that way due to the canceled Bengals-Bills on account of Damar Hamlin’s scary injury.
They sunk that possibility by beating the Bills in the divisional round and if not for a late penalty — Joseph Ossai gave away 15 yards with a late push on Mahomes — would have likely seen their AFC Championship showdown with the Chiefs headed for overtime and an equal shot at getting back to the Super Bowl for a second straight year.
The Bengals don’t mind at all what you and I think of them. But they do care what the Chiefs think of them, because they’re trying deliberately to get under their skin, and it might be working.
“(Mahomes) wants that unabashed respect,” FS1’s Nick Wright said, on “First Things First.” “All that stuff bothers him. This year he … was going to have trouble finding the doubters (for motivation). And then, the second-best player on the biggest rival, and only rival you have, gave you something that will at least get you through the offseason. I think it is something.”
Is Chiefs-Bengals a real rivalry after Mahomes’ ‘That’s Who’ response to Ja’Marr Chase?
The Bengals know how good the Chiefs are, and their status in the league, and that’s why they’re going after them. But they also feel like they’re the next men up, and they’re determined to take the opportunity.
Oddsmakers are very aware of the Bengals’ talent. Fanduel lists them at +1000 to win the Super Bowl; the fifth-best odds in the league.
The Bengals and the Chiefs played each other as many times from January 2022 to January 2023 (four) as they did in the prior 13 years, so this is a recent little ruckus. Mahomes and company will need no reminding that the Bengals won the previous three meetings before the AFC Championship, which is, in large part, why Chase, his teammates, and the city of Cincinnati generally, feel they have some bragging rights.
This is perhaps the best present feud the NFL has to offer and you can only imagine how tasty things will get when they meet on Dec. 31, and if they do so again in the postseason.
It is a struggle that is still evolving and is made better by the trash talk and the way the Bengals aren’t prepared to be unquestioning understudies. For now, however, Mahomes and the Chiefs still have the best answer — two rings.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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