AFC Championship Preview – Why the Chiefs Could Win and Go to Their 3rd Straight Super Bowl

We don’t have to go too far to come up with reasons why the Kansas City Chiefs can win Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals and go to the Super Bowl for the third year in a row. They are a pretty hefty favorite at – 355 on the money line, as established by the folks at OnlineSportsBet.

Is that a sound Investment? Can they cover this pointspread? These are some things worth exploring. But if you are kind of leaning to their side, here are some facts that might make you feel better about your decision:

For one thing, you can expect better results from a couple of their receivers as they play the second meeting against Cincinnati. The first time around, we are the Bengals won by a 34-31 count, Tyreek Hill had only 40 yards in receptions, while Travis Kelce had just 25. These guys are capable of so much more, and obviously if you were watching last week’s game against Buffalo, you saw that. Hill had 150 yards in connections with Patrick Mahomes, while Kelce found some open grass and made perhaps the most important play of the year as he got the Chiefs into field-goal range on the list snap in regulation.

Let’s talk about Mahomes is for a moment. Over his last seven games, he has now thrown 20 touchdown passes and been intercepted only twice. That is a sizable Improvement over the way he did in, say, his first eight games of the year, where he was intercepted 10 times. He has only averaged 7.4 yards per attempt this season, but it does appear he’s comfortable growing underneath if he absolutely has to.

And in his playoff games at Arrowhead, he’s got 23 touchdown passes and has been picked off only ONCE. That could be a very big statistic to remember.

And by the way, here’s the point spread and total on the game, as it is posted at OnlineSportsBet:

Kansas City Chiefs -7 (-119)

Cincinnati Bengals + 7 (-101)

Over 54.5 points -110

Under 54.5 points – 110

Kansas City has the ability to get off to a pretty good start on offense. In terms of percentage of explosive plays, they are best in the NFL when you isolate their first 15 snaps of a game. And that is reflected in their first quarter stats, where they have averaged 7.2 points per game, which tied for first in the league.

They have improved in terms of sacking the quarterback (think Chris Jones and Melvin Ingram), and that also looms important, because Joe Burrow, operating behind a rather shaky offensive line, was sacked nine times last week against Tennessee. Kansas City has to keep the pressure coming, because they absolutely have to slow down the Cincinnati receivers, namely Ja’Marr Chase, who burned them for 266 yards and three touchdowns just four weeks ago. Perhaps one can take solace in the proposition that he probably won’t duplicate that effort this week.

Kansas City’s rushing game may come very much into play here. They have their third-highest total of the season last week against the Buffalo Bills — 182 yards — and they certainly succeeded moving a ball on the ground against Cincinnati in their first encounter, getting 155 yards on a sizzling 6.7 yards per attempt. Kansas City could be moving along with the committee approach, between Clyde Edwards-Healire, Jerick McKinnon and Darryl Williams, who had been listed as questionable but had 88 yards previously against the Bengals defense.

Seriously, it’s that kind of balance that might make all the difference in the world for Kansas City, especially if they have the opportunity to get off to a good start against Cincinnati, which doesn’t normally come smoking right out of the gate (4.4 points per game in the first quarter).

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