Pro golfers don't say to themselves: Don't miss this putt.

I expect a slugfest & wouldn't have it any other way.

We may have an uphill fight here, given the circumstances. This is a position the Chiefs haven't been in for a long time, not since the Tampa Super Bowl. Some people are very emotional about it, which is to some degree understandable but also no reason to take leave of your senses.

Well if legalized sports betting in ks has taught me anything, it's that I can't predict the outcome of games ..

But my thoughts are this: with the Mahomes injury and recent history I'm very, very surprised we're favored, even slightly. We simply have not been able to beat them recently, regardless of the reasons why. They're coming into the game with tremendous momentum and we are literally limping in. And why Arrowhead is a great home field advantage, this iteration of the Chiefs is a better road team, particularly on offense. I think the Bills in Atlanta would have been a much more favorable game. I am having a hard time rationalizing how we win. It's going to require an all time performance from mahomes, and the rest of the team is going to have to play mistake free ball. We can't give the Bengals any help. Play has to be clean, we can't have penalties on either side of the ball. And we have to start hot, right from the opening whistle. If we come out flat, we get run out of the building. We have the team to win. Problem is, we can never seem to put everything together. It has to happen Sunday. We won't be able to win despite ourselves the way we did so often during the year.

And we will likely have to overcome the kind of blatantly disadvantageous officiating that we saw the last time we were in the Superbowl and in last year's afc Championship. The kind of calls that cost us a couple of wins this year.i expect it to continue.

It's a shit ton to overcome...

All that said, we ain't conceding . There's always a chance. And we're not in this game as a fluke.

As

I agree with you, Cincy absolutely is playing great football.

They have great weapons on offense with probably the best trio of WRs in the NFL, a stellar QB, and a very good RB that can hammer out tough yards. Right now, their O-Line is weak but Buffalo's pass rushers couldn't take advantage of it.

Their defense is solid at all 3 levels. Pratt and Wilson are both very good in coverage and solid overall linebackers. Their entire defensive line is solid and Hendrickson can absolutely be a game-wrecker. Bell and Bates have an argument as the best safety tandem in the NFL. Their weakness really is their CBs and they really aren't terrible but they are flawed.

Overall, I think Spags has to change his game plan we've seen a good majority of the season. He needs to roll a safety over the top of Chase consistently. He needs to sit linebackers down in the middle zone to take away those quick dumps (a huge issue for KC this year). He should key safety to the flats where Burrow likes to hit Boyd and Higgins when things break down. The defensive front 4 HAS TO get to Burrow. They simply can't go into this game thinking they can blitz Burrow and have positive outcomes. He's too good, too quick, and they have the weapons to get open quick enough to make it happen. I don't think KC has played terrible defense against them, but those things pop to me from the past and maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm not. Feel free to argue it.

Offensively, I'm most worried about how well Mahomes will be able to move. That ankle is likely to still be swollen and it's going to be really painful. I'm sure a few painkillers and a lot of tape will be on the docket but the pain is still going to break through and it's going to affect his mobility.

That means this offensive line HAS TO play its absolute best game. I don't know what flavor of Wheaties OBj needs to eat before the game, but he best eat them. Same goes for Wylie, add a protein shake or two.

The IOL needs to be nails. I have faith in them, but they will be key. Mahomes probably won't be able to take those deeper drops and drift, which should help the tackles but then you can't allow penetration up the middle.

The receivers have to win matchups on the outside. Teams have been able to take advantage of that with some deep scores. Calls out to Watson and MVS. Do your jobs this week and catch the damn ball. That will force the safeties to help and take pressure off the middle zone and flats. We have scored on them, but we haven't been good enough.

We also need to run the football. I normally don't pound the table to run, but Cincy is a physical football team and they don't respond so well to a team being physical in return. If Tyler Huntley didn't make a bonehead play in the wild-card round, we aren't talking about the Bengals. The Chiefs need to hit Cincy in the mouth with Pacheco. If there is one thing this O-Line can do, it's get physical in the run game. We're going to need to do it.

Overall, I'm worried about this game. It's going to be close throughout I'd have to think. With Mahomes hobbled and maybe not making those runs for first downs, it could be tough.

I'm going to pick the Chiefs because I'm a homer and this team wants nothing more than to beat Cincinnati. They're going to need an A-game throughout though. The line actually favors Cincy with the Chiefs only being -1 in Vegas. Are we going to see another FG to win it?

Chiefs 27 Bengals 24

We win most games against good teams because of Mahomes' mobility -- running for key first downs, dancing around back there to buy time, etc. Mahomes without his mobility -- I don't think our WRs are good enough to get consistent separation. Mahomes needs to be close to 100% for us to win.

We're about to find out about the rest of this team if Mahomes can't drag them to a victory.

We always do an 'opponent specific' tailgate so we don't fall in a rut out there. For example, last week was a low country shrimp/crab boil (and it was damn good).

This week we gave up. Cincinnati has nothing worth eating and I'll be damned if I'll soil any of my gear by putting that cinnamon and horse meat flavored gruel in it.

We're probably just going to make burgers or something because nobody in the country has worse culinary options than the goddamn Bengals.

Has nothing to do with anything other than calling it as I see it. The Bengals look pretty damn good right and based on the circumstances we’re dealing with I’m not confident. It is what it is. How could any objective fan feel good about this game? We lost the last 3 games to them with a healthy Mahomes and now he’s basically got one good leg and they’re firing on all cylinders.

Like I said in my original post, if somehow we manage to win in the trenches in this one it will mean we’re in it. But I just don’t trust OBJ and Wiley enough to believe it’ll happen.

What really concerns me about Mahomes ankle is the coverages we'll see in response.

If he isn't a threat to move the pocket and/or run, we're going to see a LOT of man coverage. And this team just doesn't have a ton of guys who excel against Man. Moreover, they can run man without having to commit a spy to Mahomes as a potential running threat.

So you're gonna see not just man coverages, but man with an extra rusher with some fair frequency. And when that guys not rushing, you could see 2-high robber coverages where he looks to create turnovers.

Honestly, the guy I think we truly need back this week, is Mecole Hardman. You put Hardman out there with Toney and both of them can do enough lateral motion and drag routes to mess with some of those man coverages and open up plenty of field.

They can win quickly and find space and when they find space, they're a threat to house one.

We need Hardman back in a big way, IMO.

I'm as realistic as they come and I know it's going to be a hard-fought game.

But for some reason, I just have this gut feeling that the Chiefs win. It's a great storyline with Mahomes being hobbled.

I'm expecting the same thing as the 2nd half in the AFC Championship game last year. 7 or 8 in coverage while rushing 3-4. We'll see if the offensive line can hold up.

It would be the story of year in the NFL imo. We’d all love to see it. Positive thing is that I think the team as a whole understands they’ve all got to be their best with Patrick not 100%. We’ll see how it shakes out.

Chiefs OL and Blake Bell should bring some late in the play nastiness like there was in the Titans game.

Nothing that draws penalties, but DJ Reader, Germaine Pratt and Mike Hilton should get a taste.

20% of CP thinks we'll lose!?

We'll pick that apart, IMO.

We've seen it all season. We've rebuilt our entire offense to deal with it and Mahomes has been immersed in it.

I think we'll see aggressive man coverage and some varied pressure packages designed to take advantage of our limitations at WR. Why would you run an offense designed specifically to neutralize Tyreek Hill if Tyreek Hill is no longer on the roster?

This isn't the same team and if Cincy's DC wants to pretend like it is, that will only work to our benefit.