Twice in the last five years, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs have met in the AFC Championship game. First, in 2021, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow erased an 11-point halftime deficit and led his team to a 27-24 overtime win against the Chiefs. Then, in 2023, despite dealing with a high ankle sprain, QB Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 23-20 victory over the Bengals. In between these two games, Bengals players took jabs at the Chiefs by referring to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead,” and Kansas City took it as fuel for revenge. 

That fierce rivalry was alive when both Burrow and Mahomes made it to the postseason and pulled off incredibly tight games for their teams. But things have changed now. Last season, both Burrow and Mahomes missed games due to injuries, and neither played in the playoffs, as their teams had identical 6-11 records. Still, Burrow has high hopes of re-igniting that rivalry in the 2026 season. 

“Hopefully we’ll both be in different spots than we were last year,” Joe Burrow said at a presser on Wednesday. “We’ll have a really good team, obviously. They’ll have a really good team, and we play them, I think, in Week 14 or 15. So, that will be the one leading up to the playoffs. Hopefully, we get two shots at them.”

Joe Burrow does have reason to be that confident. In the 2026 season, Cincinnati has one of the NFL’s easiest schedules. Besides the Pittsburgh Steelers, only the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Houston Texans won 12 or more games last season. And the Bengals will face both teams before mid-October. If the Bengals handle business early, they could enter their Week 14 showdown against the Chiefs with serious playoff momentum. Still, beating the Chiefs won’t be easy. 

Mahomes is expected to return fully healthy by training camp, and Kansas City attacked several weaknesses this offseason. Most notably, the Chiefs signed 2025 Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to have another explosive weapon besides Mahomes. As such, the Chiefs’ offense will be difficult to contain, especially for the Bengals’ defense, which ranked 31st in the NFL last season.

In the last few years, Joe Burrow has carried the Bengals despite the defensive struggles. But last season, when Burrow suffered a turf toe injury in Week 2 and missed nearly three months, all those defensive gaps became hard to ignore. 

So, this offseason, Cincinnati prioritized upgrading its defense and signed edge rusher Boye Mafe, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, and safety Bryan Cook in free agency. Both Cook and Mafe have helped their previous teams win Super Bowls. The Bengals also made a blockbuster trade for All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, a move that could completely reshape their front seven.

“We filled some holes that we have from years past. Got the best D-tackle in the league, in my opinion,” Joe Burrow said.

Burrow also expressed excitement about the continuity on offense. All five Bengals’ starting offensive linemen – Ted Karras, Dylan Fairchild, Orlando Brown Jr., Dalton Risner, and Amarius Mims – will return next season. That stability could be huge for Burrow, who did not sound that optimistic about the Bengals’ future at the end of last season.

After missing the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, the Bengals know that the urgency to make it to the postseason is real now. But Burrow isn’t thinking small. 

Joe Burrow predicts the Bengals’ Super Bowl fate for 2026 

Since the Bengals drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick in 2020, Joe Burrow has reached the playoffs only twice. One of those runs ended in the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs, while the other ended in a Super Bowl appearance. In 2021, Burrow nearly got to lift the Lombardi Trophy, but the Los Angeles Rams beat the Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI. Now, five years later, Burrow believes that his team has the best chance to reach that big stage again and even get over the victory line.

“There’s no secret that the last several years didn’t go the way we wanted to,” Joe Burrow said. “We’re in a great spot this year. I think this is the most talented roster that we’ve had since I’ve been here. I just think we know where we needed to be better, and we went out and aggressively made it happen. We’re going to go win a lot of games this year and play great and win a Super Bowl.”

If Burrow stays healthy, Cincinnati certainly has the talent to contend in the AFC again. In his six-year NFL career, Burrow has only played three full campaigns. And in his two healthy seasons, he has led the Bengals to deep playoff runs. Now, besides focusing on staying healthy, Burrow will enter the next season with personal milestones in sight. 

The Bengals QB revealed that he wants to break QB Andy Dalton’s franchise touchdown record. For that, Burrow needs to throw just 48 TD passes this year. Ultimately, between chasing records and targeting another showdown with Mahomes, Burrow has plenty of motivation heading into the new season.