Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 640 Adding insult to injury
Controversy. Noise. Gossip.

The entire league is in an uproar. The aftermath surrounding the Gillette Stadium incident has just begun, and Levi is once again at the center of the storm.

Apparently, not everyone is used to Levi's—

For professional players, their performance on the field should ultimately speak for themselves. The hustle and bustle of off-field news may bring attention, but it may also bring exclusion.

That was the case with Beckham back then, so much so that people never really recognized his performance on the field.

Now, Levi is also facing such a situation. No matter whether the off-court news is positive or negative, active or passive, it is all gossip anyway. His image of stirring up trouble and not doing his job is becoming deeply rooted in people's minds and gradually attracting the attention of his peers in the league.

There is envy and jealousy, there is criticism and exclusion, or maybe it's just plain dislike.

The gazes surrounding Levi were becoming sharper little by little.

Provocation is inevitable.

Finally, it comes back to that sentence. In the world of competitive sports, everything is cruel and bloody, but also simple and straightforward. Victory can cover up all contradictions, while failure will breed endless conflicts. There is nothing that cannot be solved by a victory. If one game is not enough, then two or three games will be enough, until everyone shuts up.

So, after going around in circles, the focus was finally brought back to the right track——

The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the New England Patriots.

A defeat!
In the eyes of a small number of people, the truth behind the Gillette Stadium incident is something else. Levy's attempt to defend Mahomes is bullshit. The real reason is probably that Levy and Mahomes couldn't afford to lose, so they found an excuse to attack the fans at the scene, and Goodell cleaned up their mess.

"Can't afford to lose."

This is the truth.

It doesn't take much effort to recall the Kansas City Chiefs' weakness and confusion in the middle of the season last season. They were like headless flies, suffering a six-game losing streak and almost missing the playoffs.

If it weren't for the lack of competitiveness of the opponents in the AFC West and the failure to pose enough threat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final stage of the season, Reid's team would have easily escaped the slump and regained the confidence to win, escaping the disaster and advancing to the playoffs. The ending of the season might have been completely different.

At least, that's what Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis thinks.

From all indications, the Kansas City Chiefs are still too young and still unstable. There is no essential difference between this season and last season, let alone transformation. They are relying entirely on passion to persist and fight. Once this spirit cannot support them to cross the finish line, the result may be reversed.

Of course, this is not to say that this is a bad thing. In fact, fighting spirit and belief do play an important role in competitive sports; but it is to say that the foundation is unstable.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a very high ceiling, as evidenced by their five-game winning streak this season. But at the same time, their floor is also very low. A mistake in one link could lead to a domino effect, and there are many variables in the ups and downs of their performance.

They may win against the Denver Broncos, but they may also easily sweep the Jacksonville Jaguars.

This lack of stability is precisely the gap between the Kansas City Chiefs and truly strong teams.

Last season was a typical example. After the Kansas City Chiefs' six-game winning streak came to an end, they failed to gain a firm foothold and lacked the ability to adjust on the spot. Failures followed one after another, like an avalanche.

This season, the Kansas City Chiefs are still facing challenges.

Marvin Lewis believes that the Cincinnati Bengals can become the nightmare of the Kansas City Chiefs and start the losing streak of the defending champions. The Cincinnati Bengals, to some extent, can be called another Kansas City Chiefs. To be more precise, the Cincinnati Bengals are the pioneers, and the Kansas City Chiefs follow in the footsteps of the former to climb to glory.

The Cincinnati Bengals' last glory can be traced back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. After that, they fell into an endless trough until after the millennium, when head coach Lewis took office and changed the dynasty. The team was completely overturned and rebuilt, and slowly returned to the winning track.

In 2011, the Cincinnati Bengals selected quarterback "Ginger Head" Andy Dalton with the th pick in the second round of the draft, finally finding the last piece of the puzzle.

From the 2011 season to the 2015 season, the Cincinnati Bengals advanced to the playoffs for five consecutive years, and have become the representatives of the new generation of the league.

However, for five consecutive years, the Cincinnati Bengals were eliminated in the first game of the playoffs.

Since 1990, they have not won a playoff game for years, and are far ahead in the process of creating historical records.

Does all this sound a little familiar?

Kansas City Chiefs, Reed, Smith.

The two teams are like brothers in distress. Although the teams have returned to the playoffs, they have never been able to break through the playoff threshold. For a moment, it is impossible to tell whether it is more depressing to continue to miss the playoffs, or whether it is more frustrating to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs every time.

It wasn't until the 2015 season that the Kansas City Chiefs broke the curse and finally won a playoff game, leaving the Cincinnati Bengals alone at the top of the list of records without a playoff win.

At this point, you can imagine Lewis's frustration.

However, that's not all.

In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals were hit by injuries and missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons. The fans who were complaining that "being eliminated in the regular season is worse than being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs" all stopped complaining. Only after they really missed the opportunity did they realize that it was happier to advance to the playoffs and then lose, as at least they could hold on to hope for another week.

At the same time, the Cincinnati Bengals watched helplessly as their little follower, the Kansas City Chiefs, who had been following them around all the time, ended their winless playoff curse, left them behind and overtook them, then made it to the Super Bowl. On the contrary, the big brother who had completed the reconstruction early on is still standing still.

Now, Lewis and his Cincinnati Bengals are collectively depressed.

As you can imagine, when the Cincinnati Bengals finally had the opportunity to face the Kansas City Chiefs and prove themselves, their ambitions were fully burning.

In Lewis's opinion, the Kansas City Chiefs' highlight of one season was simply luck. Their foundation was unstable, with great ups and downs. If they were a little tough, they would fall down with a push. It was not just Levi, but everyone from Reed to the offensive team to the defensive team was like this.

Now, the opportunity couldn't be more perfect.

From the five-game winning streak at the start of the season to the narrow defeat to the New England Patriots, from the unity and confidence to the self-doubt in the face of tough tests, the off-field gossip about the rookie distracted the team. Everything indicated that the Kansas City Chiefs were at their weakest and most vulnerable time, exposing their shortcomings.

Lewis will use a victory to prove to the league——

The success of just one season is nothing. They should look at the overall situation in the long run. The Cincinnati Bengals are the team that should reach the Super Bowl.

Not just a victory, but a resounding victory.

(End of this chapter)