The Kansas City Chiefs decided to rest several starters for their Week 18 clash against the Denver Broncos.

A 38-0 loss followed, which meant the Broncos made the postseason at the expense of the Cincinnati Bengals, the one team that has consistently troubled the Chiefs over the years.

Burrow is 3-2 all-time against Mahomes and has beaten him in the playoffs, so this is where the talk of the Chiefs “allowing” Denver to win comes from, to avoid what would be a sticky situation for Kansas City.

But tight end Travis Kelce isn’t having any of it. Speaking on The New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Travis made it abundantly clear he isn’t scared of Cincinnati.

“I ain’t scared of [expletive] nobody,” Kelce said. “I wanted them in the [expletive] playoffs. I want to slay every dragon one by one, like Mortal Kombat. I don’t even want this to be like we play the lowest seed. Just give me the best teams. AFC, NFC, give me all of them, Mortal Kombat-style. I’ll go through every [expletive] one of them just giving them my best [expletive] effort. I ain’t scared of a single soul, man.

“I’ll play them [Bengals] at the Walmart parking lot.”

Okay, we get it, Travis.

Of course, it is easier to say that now that the Bengals won’t be in the postseason, but no one can deny that the Chiefs have gotten wobbly when playing Burrow and Co., and with Zac Taylor’s team not in the playoffs, Kansas City no doubt rests a little easier.

But to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, and the Chiefs have shown time and time again, at this time of year, that they have a knack of winning against anyone when the stakes are at their highest.

And to slay them in 2024, teams will have to do it at Arrowhead, where the Chiefs are 10-0 since the Week 16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023.