For Cincinnati Bengals fans, this past week has provided a bit of a consolation prize. Missing the postseason is never an ideal end to the season, but watching a bitter rival get beat down in the Super Bowl?
That'll certainly help.
Before the Kansas City Chiefs were absolutely trounced by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59, several current and former players gave their time to media outlets by conducting interviews at Radio Row.
Sterling Holmes of our own Stacking the Box podcast had the chance to sit down with a couple of Bengals linemen and, much to the likely disappointment of Holmes and his Chiefs fandom, Alex Cappa and Ted Karras revealed just a little bit more behind the fiery rivalry between Cincinnaty and Kansas City.
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"I mean, they knocked us out two years ago," Karras said, speaking on behalf of the linemen's partnership with Bounty.
"I think you just know they're a good team, too, and they're always going to be good, and we always give them a tough fight whichever way it goes ... and so you know going in to that week, especially up front, it's going to be a battle for sure, and you know it's going to be a close game," Cappa added.
Beyond just the straight-up rivalry between Cincy and Kansas City, though, there is an underlying reason why both Karras and Cappa not only want to beat the Chiefs, but actively root against Mahomes.
Tom Brady continues to help fuel the Bengals' desire to beat the Chiefs
Having played with the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, both Karras and Cappa are also obviously particular to Tom Brady. In that spirit, Karras added one more tidbit as to why the rivalry with Kansas City is so fierce:
"And you know we're Tom Brady guys as well. So, we don't want him (Mahomes) to catch him."
Cappa, of course, started at guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a couple of seasons while Brady was there and won a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Karras began his career back in 2016 with the New England Patriots where he helped protect Brady as well.
Their affinity for Brady adds just one more layer to the fantastic rivalry between the Bengals and Chiefs and, even though the quarterback-turned-analyst is now retired, his fingerprints are all over this one.
Chances are, they'll remain so long as Cappa and Karras are wearing the orange and black.