The Bengals face their first road test of the season when they take on the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The game kicks off at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS/Paramount+. Here is what to watch for:

Red Zone Defense

Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo told reporters this week that his unit's success against the high-powered Chiefs' offense in recent years is due in large part to holding Kansas City to three points instead of seven.

"They move the ball on everybody," Anarumo said. "When we've done well against them, we've made them kick field goals, and we've been able to get takeaways."

Kansas City has marched into the red zone 19 times against Cincinnati in the past five meetings and been kept to a field goal in six instances. In the fourth quarter of those games, the Chiefs had three total red zone appearances and were forced to kick each time. Those situations include Week 17 of 2021, when the Bengals held them to a game-tying field goal with six minutes left instead of a go-ahead touchdown, and then the 2021 AFC Championship Game, when back-to-back sacks by Sam Hubbard capped off a last-minute stand to force overtime.

Even in the Week 17 loss at Kansas City last December, the Bengals forced six field goals — two of which came on Chiefs red zone trips — to keep the game within reach all the way through the final drive.

Money Mac vs. Harrison Butker

In a series that has recently featured razor-thin margins, field goals hold an added value. Both the Bengals and Chiefs boast accurate kickers who have come through in the biggest moments, with Cincinnati's Evan McPherson (2021 postseason) and Kansas City's Harrison Butker (2022) each drilling a game-winning field goal in the AFC Championship Game to send their team to the Super Bowl.

McPherson is a perfect 11-for-11 on field goal attempts and 12-for-12 on extra points in his five games against the Chiefs. Three of those kicks have been from 40-plus yards out, including a 52-yarder in the aforementioned AFC title game that gave Cincinnati its first lead of the day in the fourth quarter.

Butker has faced Cincinnati six times in his career dating back to 2018, but he is 12-for-13 on field goal tries and has nailed all 13 of his PAT's in the past five contests against the current era Bengals. His lone miss was a 55-yard attempt in the fourth quarter of the 2022 Week 13 contest at Paycor Stadium. The Bengals' offense took the ball following the wide-right kick and drained the final 3:19 of regulation to secure a three-point win, proving just how crucial a make or miss can be when these teams collide.

Burrow On Hunt for 100th TD

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow remains just three touchdown passes shy of 100 for his career heading into Week 2. If he hits the milestone in what will be his 54th regular-season game, he'll become the seventh-fastest player in NFL history to reach 100 TD tosses. He also would be the fastest Bengals quarterback to do it by a margin of five games. Carson Palmer threw his 100th TD in his 59th game, and Andy Dalton hit the mark in his 65th contest. Burrow has 16 career games with three or more touchdown passes.

In his two previous regular-season games against Kansas City, Burrow completed 78.6 percent of his passes with 10.5 yards per attempt, had a 6-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio and posted a 138.8 passer rating.

Moss Looks For Another

Zack Moss scored Cincinnati's first touchdown of the season on a five-yard run in Week 1 and now looks to find the end-zone in back-to-back games for the fourth time in his career. Should he do so, he would become the first player to score a rushing touchdown in each of his first two games as a Bengal since quarterback Jack Thompson in 1979. Moss also has a chance to be the first Bengals player with rushing scores in consecutive games to begin a season since Rudi Johnson in 2006.

Bengals/Chiefs Nuggets

Cincinnati and Kansas City are no strangers to one another, having faced off five times since the start of the 2022 calendar year. That includes Week 17 of the 2021 season, the 2021 AFC Championship Game four weeks later, Week 13 of the 2022 campaign, the 2022 AFC title game and Week 17 of last season.

The five contests against the Chiefs are the most the Bengals have played against any non-division opponent within a three-season span in franchise history (including postseason games). Cincinnati is 3-2 in those recent matchups, standing alongside Buffalo (also 3-2) as the only teams to face Kansas City more than once since the start of the 2021 season and have a winning record.

Each of the last five Bengals-Chiefs tilts have been decided by one score, with four of them being a three-point result.

More Notes

• Sunday is tight end Mike Gesicki’s 100th career regular-season game. Gesicki has played Kansas City twice before, and totaled six catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
• Punter Ryan Rehkow is coming off a historic NFL debut in Week 1. His 64.5 yards per punt (four punts for 258 yards) set an NFL single-game record, and included a Bengals-record 80-yarder that tied for the 15th-longest punt in league history.
• The Bengals are 8-11 all-time at Kansas City, including the two AFC Championship Games following the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The last time Cincinnati won a regular-season contest at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium was Week 11 of the 2012 campaign — a 28-6 victory that saw Andy Dalton throw for two touchdowns and BenJarvus Green-Ellis rush for 101 yards.
• Defensive end Trey Hendrickson has faced Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes six times in his career including playoff games (one with New Orleans, five with Cincinnati). He has 4.5 sacks, 13 QB hits and two forced fumbles.