AFC Championship: Kansas City Chiefs vs Cincinnati Bengals 1/30/22 NFL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals clash Sunday afternoon in the AFC Championship NFL Playoffs action from Arrowhead Stadium. The Bengals are 12-7 overall on the year and coming off a tense three-point victory over Tennessee. As for Kansas City, they took a thrilling overtime win over Buffalo in their Divisional Round game. Check back all season long for free NFL picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Cincinnati finished off the regular season with a 10-7 run. The Bengals went 3-3 over the last six games, taking out Denver, Baltimore and Kansas City along the way. After a 26-19 win over Las Vegas in the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs, Cincinnati kept it going with a big 19-16 victory over Tennessee last weekend in the Divisional Round. 

In the playoffs matchup versus the Titans, Cincinnati earned the win with a 52-yard field goal from Evan McPherson as time ran out. QB Joe Burrow finished with 348 yards and a pick, while Ja’Marr Chase led the receivers on 109 yards from five catches. Joe Mixon rushed 14 times for 54 yards and a score as well. 

Over on the Chiefs’ side, they managed a 12-5 run in the regular season. Kansas City stumbled to a sketchy 3-4 start, but ended up winning nine of their final 10 games. The Chiefs didn’t have much trouble versus Pittsburgh in the Wild Card Round. Kansas City took that one 42-21 in blowout fashion.

In the Divisional Round matchup versus Buffalo, the Chiefs went punch for punch in a tight game. Kansas City forced overtime with 15 fourth-quarter points. On the first possession of the extra period, QB Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce that sealed the wild 42-36 victory. This will be the Chiefs’ fourth straight AFC Championship Game. 

The Bengals are 6-0 ATS in their last six overall and 5-0 ATS in their last five after an ATS win. Cincinnati is 6-0 ATS in their last six versus the AFC and 4-0 ATS in their last four in January.

Meanwhile, Kansas City is 6-0 ATS in their last six at home and 6-1 ATS in their last seven after an ATS win. The Chiefs are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 overall and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 as a favorite. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Kansas City. I could really go either way on this one, though. It should be a stellar matchup and the early line seems right on. That said, the Chiefs are coming off a gutsy win over a great Buffalo team, bagging 552 total yards and 30 first downs along the way. Kansas City is on a roll offensively in these first two games of the playoffs. The Chiefs did lose to Cincinnati 34-31 back on January 2, and I fully expect this one to be a dogfight most of the way as well. 

As for Cincinnati, they’re riding high after (finally) making an AFC Championship game. The win over Tennessee wasn’t exactly pretty, however. The Bengals needed a big interception from linebacker Logan Wilson late, and QB Joe Burrow was sacked nine times (tied for a Super-Bowl era record in a playoff game). Cincinnati deserves major credit for toughing out the win, but I don’t think lightning will strike twice here. Should be an excellent matchup regardless.