National Football League

Joe Burrow on latest Bengals-Chiefs trash talk: 'We'll see them in December'

Published Jul. 11, 2023 6:36 p.m. ET

The rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals has gone from the gridiron to social media in the past year.

But Bengals QB Joe Burrow knows there's one way to at least put a hold on all the trash talk between the two teams.

"The best thing about that is it's all settled on the field," Burrow said in a recent interview with Complex Sports. "So we'll see them in December."

The comment from Burrow came in response to a question about the latest back-and-forth between the two teams. In June, the Burrow's praise of Patrick Mahomes actually led to drama, after he called the Chiefs quarterback the league's best player.

Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase disagreed with Burrow's comment, saying that "everybody knows" Burrow is the league's best player.

"Pat who?" Chase said when a reporter told him that Burrow said Mahomes was the league's best player.

That came right before the Chiefs' Super Bowl ring ceremony, which gave Mahomes a chance to respond to Chase's quip with some spark.

"That’s Who," Mahomes tweeted with an image of him wearing his two Super Bowl rings.

Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce also took exception to Chase's comment in June, saying on his podcast that it was "a little bold."

"It is what it is, dog," Kelce said on the "New Heights" podcast. "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."

Burrow's comment seemed to put an end to what was just the latest round of trash talk between the two AFC rivals. The most notable round of lip service came ahead of this past season's AFC Championship Game, when multiple Bengals players called Arrowhead Stadium "Burrowhead" because of the quarterback's success against the Chiefs at that point.

However, Kansas City got the better of Cincinnati, winning by three to capture its first win in four tries against Burrow and avenging its loss in the AFC Championship Game a year prior.

As Burrow alluded to, the two teams will meet again in December in the penultimate week of the regular season at Kansas City. There's a good chance that game could determine playoff seeding and who could host the AFC Championship Game this upcoming season if there's a rubber match between both teams.

Are Bengals the biggest threat to Chiefs reign atop the AFC?

While the Bengals have mostly gotten the upper hand against the Chiefs over the last two seasons, Kansas City has what Cincinnati wants: Super Bowl rings. But Burrow doesn't think his team is too far away from achieving that goal.

"Nothing too different — keep doing exactly what we're doing," Burrow told Complex Sports when asked what he thinks his team needs to do in order to get over the hump. "I think we've put a great plan together the last couple of years, now we just have to finish it off.

"We have essentially the same team with, you know, a couple lost pieces, but we also added a couple pieces that I think will help us. So just continuing to grind every day and get better and better."

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