Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. Eastern.
Television: The game will air on NBC-TV. In the Bengals' home region, it will be carried by WLWT-TV (Ch. 5) in Cincinnati, WDTN-TV (Ch. 7) in Dayton and on WLEX-TV (Ch. 2) in Lexington. Broadcasters are Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst) and Michele Tafoya (sideline reporter).
Radio: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati flagship stations WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst).
The game also will air nationally on Westwood One Sports. Broadcasters are Kevin Kugler (play-by-play) and Rod Woodson (analyst).
Setting the scene: The Cincinnati Bengals this week travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs in a nationally televised, prime-time matchup on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
The game pits two of the six AFC teams with records of 4-2 or better. Kansas City leads the conference with a 5-1 mark. Cincinnati is one of five teams at 4-2, along with Baltimore, the L.A. Chargers, Miami and New England.
The game also will feature two of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL thus far this season. The Chiefs rank No. 2 in the league in scoring at 35.8 points per game, while the Bengals rank No. 6 at 29.0.
The Bengals go into the contest looking to bounce back from a disappointing 28-21 home loss last week to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite the setback, Cincinnati still owns a share of first place in the AFC North Division, standing tied with Baltimore. The Bengals, however, currently hold an edge for the top spot by virtue of a win over the Ravens in Game 2.
Against Pittsburgh, Cincinnati appeared to be on the way to their fourth, fourth-quarter comeback win of the year. After the Steelers kicked a field goal for a 20-14 lead with 3:32 left, Bengals QB Andy Dalton led a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown run by HB Joe Mixon and a 21-10 lead with 1:18 left. Dalton, who set a record for most game-winning drives by a Bengals quarterback with the 23rd of his career the previous week vs. Miami, completed five of eight passes for 57 yards on the late march against the Steelers.
But the one-minute and 18 seconds left on the clock was more than enough time for Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger, who responded by leading his own seven-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass to WR Antonio Brown with 0:15 left for the 28-21 victory.
The Chiefs, who stand one game ahead of the Chargers on top of the AFC West Division, also are coming off a disappointing, last-minute loss last week. They suffered a 43-40 setback at New England when the Patriots drove 65 yards on seven plays in the final three minutes to kick a 28-yard field goal as time expired.
The series: The Bengals lead 15-13 and have won the last four meetings. The Chiefs lead 8-7 as the home team, though the Bengals have won two of the last three meetings at Kansas City, including the most recent matchup at Arrowhead Stadium in 2012.
The last four meetings between the two teams have seen the Bengals win 16-6 at Cincinnati in 2008, 17-10 at Cincinnati in '09, 28-6 at Kansas City in '12 and 36-21 at Cincinnati in '15. The '09 game was a 17-10 win in Game 15 that clinched the AFC North Championship for Cincinnati.
The 2003 game in Cincinnati was memorable, as a 4-5 Bengals club toppled a 9-0 Chiefs squad 24-19 during Marvin Lewis' first season as head coach. The Bengals' first game of any kind was against the Chiefs, in Cincinnati's inaugural preseason contest, played Aug. 3, 1968 at Nippert Stadium on the University of Cincinnati campus. The Chiefs won, 38-14.
The Bengals began regular-season play in 1968 as co-members with Kansas City in the American Football League's Western Division, and the teams played each other twice in both 1968 and '69.
Bengals flex history: This weekend's Bengals-Chiefs game, originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, was flexed into the national prime-time slot on NBC's Sunday Night Football.
It is the fourth time the Bengals have been flexed from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night. All four instances have been road games. Previous flexed contests include games at the N.Y. Jets on 1-3-09 (flexed from 1 p.m.), at Pittsburgh on 12-28-14 (from 1 p.m.) and at Arizona on 11-22-15 (from 4 p.m.). The Bengals have been flexed out of an originally scheduled Sunday night matchup three times, including vs. San Diego on 12-26-10 (flexed to 4 p.m.), at San Francisco on 12-20-15 (to 4:25 p.m.) and vs. Pittsburgh on 12-18-16 (to 1 p.m.).
Bengals career records watch: Here is a look at potential upcoming movement in the Bengals' career records book (regular season) this season:
● QB Andy Dalton has 179 passing touchdowns, eight shy of Esiason (187) for second place all-time. Anderson (197) is the Bengals' all-time leader.
● Dalton also has 27,208 passing yards, 5630 short of QB Ken Anderson (32,838) for the Bengals' all-time lead. Dalton passed QB Boomer Esiason (27,149) for second place all-time in Game 6 vs. Pittsburgh.
● WR A.J. Green has 62 career receiving TDs, one shy of WR Carl Pickens (63) for second place all-time. Johnson (66) is the Bengals' all-time leader.
● Green also has 62 career total TDs, two shy of Pickens and RB James Brooks (64) for third place all-time. FB Pete Johnson (70) is the Bengals' all-time leader.
● Green also has 32 career 100-yard receiving games, the most in Bengals history. Green passed WR Chad Johnson (31) in Game 5 vs. Miami for the all-time lead.
● DE Carlos Dunlap has 68.5 career sacks, 15 short of DE Eddie Edwards* (83.5) for the Bengals' all-time lead.
● DT Geno Atkins has 67 career sacks, 1.5 short of Dunlap (68.5) for second place all-time. Edwards* (83.5) is the Bengals' all-time leader. Atkins passed LB Reggie Williams (62.5) for third place all-time in Game 2 vs. Baltimore.
● P Kevin Huber has 719 career punts, 27 shy of P Lee Johnson (746) for the Bengals' all-time lead. Huber passed P Pat McInally (700) for second place all-time in Game 2 vs. Baltimore.
● Huber also has 32,442 punting yards, the most in Bengals history. Huber passed Johnson (32,196) for the Bengals' all-time lead in Game 6 vs.Pittsburgh.
*NOTE: The NFL has counted sacks as official statistics since 1982.
However, the Bengals have sack statistics compiled since 1976 and recognize those sacks recorded from '76-81 in its records. Thus, please note that, because the NFL has sacks statistics for all teams only since 1982, the Bengals' sack statistics for players whose careers included seasons prior to '82 will not be included in league information.
Bengals-Chiefs connections: Bengals DE Jordan Willis is from Kansas City (Rockhurst High School) and played at Kansas State University ...Chiefs S Josh Shaw entered the NFL in 2015 as a fourth-round draft selection of the Bengals and was with the team through '18 preseason ... Chiefs RB Spencer Ware attended Princeton High School in Cincinnati ... Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy played for the Bengals from 1995-98 ... Bengals tight ends coach Jonathan Hayes played for the Chiefs from 1985-93 ... Chiefs running backs coach Deland McCullough played for the Bengals from 1996-97. McCullough also played (1991-95) and coached (2010) at Miami (Ohio) University ... Chiefs TE Travis Kelce played at the University of Cincinnati ...Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons is from Elkhart, Kan., and played (1993-95) and coached (1996) at the University of Kansas ... Chiefs RB Kareem Hunt played at the University of Toledo ... Bengals CB KeiVarae Russell (practice squad) entered the NFL in 2016 as a third-round draft selection of the Chiefs ... Bengals CB Davonte Harris (Reserve/Injured) is from Wichita, Kan. (Wichita South High School) ... Chiefs T Ryan Hunter (practice squad) played at Bowling Green State University ... Chiefs TE Deon Yelder (practice squad) is from Louisville, Ky. ... Bengals wide receivers coach Bob Bicknell coached for the Chiefs from 2007-09 ... Chiefs assistant strength and conditioning coach Ryan Reynolds coached at the University of Louisville in 2008.
Bengals' O excels in red zone: The Bengals' offense this season has scored TDs on 15 of its 20 trips to the red zone, good for a league-best 75 percent rate. The Bengals scored TDs on all three of their red-zone trips vs. Pittsburgh last week. Entering their Week 5 matchup with Miami, Cincinnati had come away with points on an NFL-best 34 consecutive trips to the red zone (25 TDs, nine FGs) dating back to Game 9 of last season. But an INT on their first red-zone trip vs. Miami ended the streak, which was the longest by a Bengals team since 2005-06 (40 straight).
