Ja'Marr Chase: Bengals 'team to beat' in AFC as Chiefs loom - ESPN

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals might be a couple of years removed from being the best team in the AFC. But ahead of Sunday's matchup against Kansas City, the back-to-back reigning conference and Super Bowl champion, wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase said the team still believed it was the team that commands the top spot.

«Everybody knows that, bro,» Chase said Thursday. «It's not 'if.' We are the team to beat in the AFC. And we know it. And we gotta play like it, too.»

In two of the past three years, the Cincinnati-Kansas City matchup determined who represented the AFC in the Super Bowl. Cincinnati won at Arrowhead Stadium in the 2021 playoffs to clinch the Bengals' first conference title in 33 seasons.

The next season, Kansas City hit the winning field goal with three seconds left to win the rematch in the AFC title game.

Last year, the Bengals missed the playoffs after quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11. Cincinnati was eliminated from postseason contention after a Week 16 loss at Kansas City.

This season, the Bengals are off to a 0-1 start. Despite being a 7.5-point favorite in Week 1, Cincinnati lost to New England 16-10. With another loss Sunday, the Bengals will start the season with an 0-2 record for the fifth time in the past six seasons.

Chase dismissed the notion the Bengals need to prove they are still a championship-caliber team.

«All that noise y'all are making and stuff, we see it, we hear it,» Chase said. «But we're not worried about it, you know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, it's about the team and what we're doing on the field.

»The outside people are not on the field, telling us what to do on the field. I'll let them stay outside and make their own comments."