‘I ain’t scared of … nobody’: Travis Kelce denies Chiefs intentionally lost Week 18 game to eliminate Bengals from playoffs

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce denied that the team intentionally lost its Week 18 game to ensure that the Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated from playoff contention.

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce denied that the team intentionally lost its Week 18 game to ensure that the Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated from playoff contention. The Bengals won their final game of the season on Saturday to leave open the possibility of a playoff ticket: they needed a Miami Dolphins loss and a Chiefs win over the Denver Broncos to make the postseason. And while the New York Jets were victorious against the Dolphins, the Broncos thumped a Chiefs squad resting the majority of its starters 38-0, allowing Denver to clinch the last spot in the AFC playoffs. While the Bengals finished 9-8, they would have been a tough challenge for any team, as they won their final five games of the season and had several league-wide statistical leaders, including leading passer (Joe Burrow), leading receiver (Ja’Marr Chase) and the league’s leader in sacks (Trey Hendrickson). The Chiefs and the Bengals have had plenty of memorable postseason match-ups and clashes between their two star quarterbacks – Cincinnati’s Burrow and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes – have been pivotal in deciding who wins the Super Bowl. Due to the two teams’ shared history, the nature of the Week 18 defeat from the Chiefs led to social media speculation that Kansas City intentionally lost to the Broncos to see the Bengals miss the playoffs, something Kelce denied emphatically.