Bengals’ Boyd Boldly Asserts Team Would’ve Won AFC Championship if He Was Healthy

Kansas City fans might disagree with Tyler Boyd's take.

The Chiefs and Bengals—both AFC powerhouse franchises with transcendent young quarterbacks—have forged a fierce rivalry over the past two seasons.

In 2021, Cincinnati stopped Kansas City 27–24 in overtime in the AFC championship to deny Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid a conference three-peat. In 2022, the Chiefs returned the favor with a last-second, 23–20 win.

However, Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd believes that Cincinnati could have taken back-to-back AFC titles, if only he was healthy in January.

“Still to this day, I feel like if I would have played the whole game, I was the key factor,” Boyd said Tuesday on the first day of offseason workouts. “We would’ve won the game.”

Boyd exited the AFC championship in the second quarter with a deep thigh bruise after reeling in a pair of catches for 40 yards. It was an ignominious end to a solid season for Boyd, who registered his fifth straight season with 700 or more yards.

He called the Bengals and Kansas City’s feud “a nice little rivalry” and insisted that he would’ve played if he was feeling better.

“I just felt like we had enough depth for... other guys to come in and play at a faster pace than what I felt like I could do,” Boyd said. "I wish I was able to do it, but things happen.”

Cincinnati will gets its first crack at revenge against Mahomes and company on New Year’s Eve in Kansas City.