KELCE DENIES CHIEFS THREW WEEK 18 GAME

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has dismissed claims that the team deliberately lost its Week 18 game to eliminate the Cincinnati Bengals from playoff contention, CNN reports.

The Ben­gals need­ed a Chiefs win over the Den­ver Bron­cos and a Mia­mi Dol­phins loss to secure a play­off spot. While Mia­mi fell to the New York Jets, the Bron­cos dom­i­nat­ed a Chiefs squad rest­ing most of its starters, clinch­ing a 38–0 vic­to­ry and the final AFC play­off spot.

Social media spec­u­lat­ed that Kansas City’s loss was strate­gic to keep the Ben­gals out of the post­sea­son. Kelce, how­ev­er, refut­ed these alle­ga­tions on his “New Heights” pod­cast:

“I ain’t scared of f**king nobody. I want­ed (the Ben­gals) in the f**king play­offs. I want to slay every drag­on one by one, like Mor­tal Kom­bat.”

Kelce empha­sized his respect for the Ben­gals, call­ing them “a fun-ass team to watch.” Cincin­nati had fin­ished their sea­son strong, with stars Joe Bur­row, Ja’­Marr Chase, and Trey Hen­drick­son lead­ing the league in key stats.

Ben­gals cor­ner­back Cam Tay­lor-Britt labeled Kelce’s com­ments as “cap” (lies) on Insta­gram, adding to the rival­ry between the two teams. The Ben­gals famous­ly dubbed Kansas City’s Arrow­head Sta­di­um as “Bur­row­head” in 2022 after beat­ing the Chiefs on their way to the Super Bowl. Kelce lat­er fired back, declar­ing, “‘Bur­row­head,’ my a**. It’s Mahomes’ house!”

As the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Chiefs earned a first-round bye and are set to begin their play­off run next week, aim­ing for a third con­sec­u­tive Super Bowl title.