KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is an Ohio kid and proud of his roots, but he had some terse words for the town’s mayor during the AFC Championship Game ceremony.
During the run up to Sunday’s rematch in the penultimate game of the NFL season, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval joked in a proclamation that Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had been asked to take a paternity test to see if he was Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ daddy among other jabs.
A WHO DEY proclamation from the Mayor: @Bengals pic.twitter.com/W1tCqupdTw
— Aftab Pureval (@AftabPureval) January 27, 2023
Kelce, who played in college at the University of Cincinnati, didn’t disappoint when he grabbed the mic after Kansas City’s 23-20 win at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, which punched a ticket to the franchise’s third Super Bowl in four seasons.
“Hey, I’ve got some wise words for that Cincinnati mayor — know your role and shut your mouth, you jabroni,” Kelce said.
The Bengals did the bulk of the trash-talking in the week leading up to the AFC title game, starting late in a Divisional win at Buffalo when cornerback Mike Hilton said he’d “see you Burrowhead.”
“I think guys were probably the most pumped up I’ve seen them going into a football game, a lot of trash talk coming from a lot of different places,” Mahomes said. “I think no one picked us to win. If so, it was like 5% of people and we think we’ve built up enough respect to have a chance to go out and win every game. So, whenever you feel like you’re the underdog when you’re playing at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, it gets guys ready to go.”
Aside from linebacker Willie Gay Jr.’s comment that “nothing” impressed him about the Bengals’ offense, which only managed 309 yards on Sunday, Kansas City largely stayed above the fray.
That was just fine with Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
“Listen, our guys did a great job of not going that direction,” Reid said.”Their mayor said it all, so I’m glad our mayor did what he did. Some people heard it.”
Kansas City snapped a 50-year Super Bowl drought three years ago, returned to the Super Bowl two years ago only to lose then lost in overtime to Cincinnati with a chance to get to a third straight Super Bowl.
Rather than lean into the trash talk, the Chiefs tried to focus on the task at hand — snapping a three-game skid against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
“It’s just part of it,” Kansas City left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said. “Some teams need that; some guys need that. I don’t hold that against them at all. Whatever you need to motivate yourself — hey, everybody’s different. I was just super excited to be playing in the AFC championship.”
Burrow said he had no regrets after the game.
“I just think that’s what makes football fun,” he said. “It’s all love at the end of the day. They know the respect that we have for them and we know the respect that they have for us. It’s an intense, emotional game and things like that are going to happen, but I think that’s why the game is fun.”
Sunday's game was just a little more fun for the Chiefs.
"When they were doing the talking, we knew maybe they had some insecurities ... and with a home crowd like this, we thought it might get to them," wide receiver Marcus Kemp said.
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