The Cincinnati Bengals have their most difficult task of the regular season with the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs coming to town. Typically, in Week 17, we see the Bengals squaring off against an AFC North team but with the extra game this season, it’ll be against the Chiefs instead.
Madden was wrong about the Bengals last week but to be fair, when I simmed the game, I had Lamar Jackson playing. He nor Tyler Huntley ended up taking the snaps for Baltimore but that wasn’t why the Ravens lost. They lost due to their defense being represented by practice squad players.
Fortunately, Madden missed on that sim, but how will they do with projecting the Bengals-Chiefs game slated for Sunday afternoon?
Madden Simulation – Bengals 14, Chiefs 27
Bengals Stats
- Joe Burrow – 23-of-42, 256 yards, TD, 2 INT
- Joe Mixon – 16 carries, 82 yards, TD
- Tyler Boyd – 6 rec, 75 yards
- Ja’Marr Chase – 3 rec, 45 yards, TD
- Logan Wilson – 7 tackles
- Trey Hendrickson – Sack
Chiefs Stats
- Patrick Mahomes – 17-of-23, 365 yards, 3 TD
- Darrel Williams – 8 carries, 62 yards, TD
- Travis Kelce – 11 rec, 154 yards, 2 TD
- Tyreek Hill – 6 rec, 105 yards
- Byron Pringle – 2 rec, 34 yards, TD
- Tyrann Mathieu – 6 tackles, INT
- Chris Jones – Sack
- Frank Clark – Sack
- Melvin Ingram – Sack
- L’Jarius Sneed – INT
The Chiefs get on the board almost immediately as Mahomes hits Kelce on a 42-yard touchdown pass on just their third play of the game putting KC up 7-0 before fans can get settled in.
After the teams trade punts on the next two possessions, Burrow is picked off and sets the Chiefs up in the red zone. From there, Mahomes connects with Hill and the stripes are down 14-0. That’s the score at halftime and Cincinnati knows they have to step it up and play well in the second half.
With that in mind, Burrow is able to lead his guys down the field to start the second half and chip away at KC’s lead after he finds Chase for a 25-yard touchdown. The momentum is back with the Bengals but not for long. Williams breaks off a 37-yard run that ends with him diving into the end zone, putting the Chiefs back ahead by two touchdowns.
With the Bengals down 21-7 entering the fourth quarter, Mixon is able to cap off a nine-minute drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it a one-score game once again.
Unfortunately, that’s the final time Cincy is able to add points to the board. Mahomes finds a wide-open Kelce running down the field to make it a 27-14 final (KC missed an extra point during the game but that’s a side note considering the final score).
This would be a disappointing result for Cincinnati so hopefully, Madden is incorrect with its projection here.