Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals Likened to Tom Brady’s ‘Nemesis’ After Challenging Patrick Mahomes & Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs is currently the top team in the NFL, at least by the Super Bowl winning records. But there is one team that could block their championship road, as per Joe Burrow. The quarterback thinks his Cincinnati Bengals, the Chiefs long-time rival team, are “built to beat them.”

Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce hosted their “New Heights” podcast at their former school on Thursday. They also invited Bengals QB Joe Burrow and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. to join them on stage at the University of Cincinnati’s basketball arena. During the podcast, they discussed the rivalry between the Chiefs and the Bengals, showing confidence in defeating the current SB champs. Meanwhile, an NFL analyst, too, believes the Bengals can be a difficult rival for Patrick Mahomes and the team, citing an example.

Joe Burrow’s team can be like Tom Brady’s top-rival?

In a recent episode of First Things First, Eric Mangini joined NFL analysts and hosts Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes to discuss Joe Burrow’s latest remarks on defeating Patrick Mahomes and his team. Mangini shared his opinions too, believing Burrow’s Bengals pose a significant threat to teams like the Chiefs. He said that Burrow’s performance has been impressive with the Bengals, ranking in the top 10 in many offensive categories.

Mangini also drew parallels between the Bengals’ challenge to the Chiefs and the struggles Tom Brady faced against certain teams during his time with the Patriots. The former Browns coach expressed, “I think this is the team that they need to legitimately worry about and when you look at Joe Burrow, he’s been healthy. They’ve been top 10 in almost every offensive category and really top five in a bunch of offensive categories, he’s three and one against the Chiefs.”

Mangini continued, “I think even Tom struggled with the Ravens. After I left, I feel like that was a team, that he kind of like the Chiefs or Cincinnati is. For Kansas City, they were difficult for New England to deal with and so there’s that component and Cincinnati’s not intimidated at all by Kansas City, and if anything they feel like they’ve got a little bit of an edge on Kansas City so that’s impactful.” There is no doubt that Brady’s team, Patriots, were one of the best in the league during his time. Still, the team struggled while playing against Ravens in 2013, 2016 or 2019 seasons. Similarly, the Chiefs, being one of the best teams currently, can struggle against the Bengals. He highlighted that the Bengals have strengthened their team with offensive weapons and have resources to further improve through the draft and salary cap.

However, the coach-turned-analyst acknowledged the tough division the Bengals are in and emphasized the importance of emerging successfully from it to challenge teams like the Chiefs. But will Burrow and Bengals give a tough competition to Mahomes and the Chiefs, especially when the Cincinnati QB is recovering from his injury?

How well is Joe Burrow prepared?

Joe Burrow is 2-0 against Kansas City in the regular season, while it stands 1-1 in the postseason. Burrow has faced significant challenges with injuries during his time in the NFL. In his rookie season, a knee injury sidelined him for a while, requiring a lengthy recovery process. Then, three years later, he suffered a calf strain during training camp, limiting his mobility on the field for the first part of the 2023 season. Just as he began to recover from that injury, a wrist injury prematurely ended his season. So, this means the only thing that can really stop the Bengals quarterback is Burrow himself. If he keeps getting hurt, the Bengals won’t reach their full potential.

But now, Burrow seems to understand how to prevent this. As he recovers from his wrist injury, he is getting ready to join offseason activities in May. But what’s even more important is that he’s mentally prepared to deal with any future injuries. Burrow expressed, “I’m confident I’ve put all the work in I need to make sure I’m healthy. I’m continuing year-to-year to better hone that and make that more efficient. Maybe listen to my body a little more throughout the offseason and not push through things that maybe I have in the past. I’m just starting to learn my body more and more.”

As Burrow is confident for the next season, he aims to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, as he already said that they are “kind of built to beat them.”