For the second-straight season, the Kansas City Chiefs will face the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game for their chance to clinch another Super Bowl berth.
But it certainly won’t be an easy matchup for Kansas City, which has lost to Cincinnati in their last three meetings against the Bengals. Defensive lineman Frank Clark told reporters on Friday about the challenges posed by quarterback Joe Burrow, who has proven to be one of the only signal callers in the league who can consistently give the Chiefs’ defense fits.
“I think – just number one, I feel like (as a) pocket quarterback, I feel like he’s the best in the game,” Clark explained. “He’s got that Peyton Manning in him. No matter how many times he gets hit, no matter how many times he gets knocked down, he’s getting back up (and) he’s controlling, bringing and pulling his offense back together and making the adjustments and making the right plays.
“He knows how to read safeties and he knows how to read the defense and when you’re an immature defense or when you’re a defense that can’t really disguise the coverage or disguise things, he’s going to pick you apart every time. I feel like in the past – the last few games those are things that he’s been able to do is just expose us in those different aspects.”
Clark’s assessment of Burrow’s skillset is spot-on, and it will be his job to mitigate the threat of the Bengals’ excellent quarterback in all four quarters on Sunday. If he can, the Chiefs stand to advance to their third Super Bowl in four seasons with the chance to cement themselves as the NFL’s team to beat heading into the 2023 season.
