Chiefs defense gets last laugh over trash-talking Ja'Marr Chase and Bengals

For the Kansas City Chiefs, this season has been about learning how to not beat themselves on offense with penalties, drops and other miscues.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs, this season has been about learning how to not beat themselves on offense with penalties, drops and other miscues.

So in the leadup to their crucial AFC matchup with new rival Cincinnati Bengals, the Chiefs avoided trash-talking or speaking unkindly about the Bengals at all, unlike how the last two seasons have gone between these teams.

The Bengals had other plans. Or more pointedly, star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase.

The third-year receiver was battling a shoulder injury before playing on Sunday and had some words for what impresses him about the Chiefs defense when he spoke on Thursday.

"If I’m being honest, nothing,” Chase said. "They just know how to play us. They know the leverages; they know what splits we gonna be in. They throw a little double-doubles at us to stop the two best players on the outside. That’s all they do. It’s not like they got a Jalen Ramsey on they squad."

The Chiefs may not have a cornerback who is regarded as a superstar like the Miami Dolphins' defensive back, but their top cornerback, L'Jarius Sneed, has given up less than 500 receiving yards and no touchdowns in his coverage this season.

He is quietly playing at an elite level on an elite defense that is second in the NFL in points allowed.

Chase only garnered 41 yards on three catches on Sunday, in a 25-17 loss for the Bengals.

According to Next Gen Stats, Sneed aligned across from Chase on 21 of his 34 routes (61.8%), allowing two receptions for 27 yards on three targets. Chase gained fewer receiving yards than expected (-6) for the first time in his five career games against the Chiefs.

The Bengals' loss also included a shoving match early in the game between Chase and Sneed.

Those facts did not stop Chase from continuing his trash talk after the game.

"I don't know what he was doing. I just be under people's skin sometimes, I guess," Chase said Sunday. "Just trash-talking, can't handle it."

Chase also doubled down on refusing to say good things about the Chiefs secondary.

"They got a good up front, that's it."

The Bengals raced out to a 17-7 lead and converted eight out of their first 10 third downs to start the game.

They ended the game without converting a third down and didn't score a single point after that and the Chiefs held them to 263 total yards including 159 through the air.

The Chiefs defense also tallied six sacks (four on the last Bengals drive) and 14 quarterback hits.

After the game, with all the evidence to respond to Chase with verbal Ws on top of the actual W, KC took their usual humble approach by letting the game do the talking.

"We had some words. I went up to him after the game, told him 'good game'," Sneed said. "But you know, check the stats."

"We don't comment. We just play, man. We don't really talk. We don't engage with the back-and-forth. They do this every year," defensive tackle Chris Jones said after the game.

"Once you take a shot at one of us, you take a shot at all of us," defensive end Mike Danna said. "We continue to respect our opponents. We handle our business with our pads and we just do what we do on the field."

Chiefs players also had plenty to say on Twitter after the game.

"From the crib (Cincinnati) we don’t talk and not back it up… but aye," safety Mike Edwards posted.

"40 yards is crazy to talk so much," cornerback Jaylen Watson posted. "Sneed’s top 3 and not 3."

Sneed was also a game-time decision for the game with a calf injury that he sustained last week against the Las Vegas Raiders while making a tackle on Raiders running back Zamir White.

"God carried me this long. I just went out there with faith and I knew that He would carry me in this game as well."

The Chiefs are now locked in the 3-seed in the AFC with their eighth straight AFC West title at 10-6, and could see several opponents after the last week of the regular season during Wild Card Weekend: Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Chiefs' regular season ends in Los Angeles where they face the Chargers at a time to be determined.