Vonn Bell’s Bengals secondary, the only thing that stood between the Patrick Mahomes Chiefs and three straight Super Bowl wins, eyes another gargantuan appointment in Kansas City.
It is potentially season-changing games like this one, Sunday's national television window at Arrowhead Stadium (4:25 p.m.-Cincinnati's Channel 12), why they brought Bell back during the offseason to roam at safety.
In the Bengals' two victories over the quicksilver Chiefs in the 2021 Super Bowl run, Bell turned two quintessential plays that provide a blueprint on what the Bengals have to do Sunday.
"Communication. Pre-snap and post-snap and guys just finishing," said Bell after Thursday's practice. "Take a step back. Let it unfold in front of you. Don't worry about who they are, you have to worry about you. You've got the ability to play in this league. Trust it and trust your teammates to do their jobs."
With Bell back, the defense goes into Arrowhead with seven defenders who started the 2021 AFC title game there —a game the Bengals won when they stoned the Chiefs in the red zone at the end of regulation and turned them over in overtime.
Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo admits familiarity helps in key spots like the red zone.
"We've played them, what, six times in (four) years," Anarumo says. "So, our guys know that when we get down there, we're going to do certain things. They do certain things, but they always have a wrinkle, and we always try to have a little something that maybe is a little bit unscouted. But everybody does that, so we hang our hat on certain things, and we'll see how it goes."
Bell conferred with safety Jessie Bates III before Mahomes' third snap in overtime of the 2021 AFC title game. They concluded it was going to one of his two top weapons in No. 10 Tyreek Hill.
"Ten on an over route," they told each other and when slot cornerback Mike Hilton passed off Hill to them running deep, Bates made a leaping tip that Bell took off the grass for an interception. Five minutes later, they were going to the Super Bowl.
Hill is in Miami these days (Bates is in Atlanta), so instead of saying "Ten," on Sunday, Bell and safety Geno Stone are probably going to be saying "One," the jersey number of rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Worthy, the fastest player ever at an NFL scouting combine, had a scorching debut last week against the Ravens when he burned them for a 35-yard touchdown catch and a 21-yard touchdown run.
"He's not Tyreek," Hilton says. "But he runs well, gets downfield, and they're finding ways to get the ball to him in space."
Bell's mind rewinds back to Week 17 of 2021 at Paycor Stadium at the end of a first half where the Chiefs threatened to put the Bengals away.
Mahomes pulled off one of his GPS scrambles and, after more than five seconds of running around, he leaned back, scraped his knuckles on his own 20 and unleashed an ungodly rainbow to Hill all the way down to the Bengals 10. Bell got turned around, but he was close enough to bat the ball out of Hill's arms. Two hours later, the Bengals won the AFC North.
The play had seemed long dead.
"Not with 15," Bell says. "The play's never over. He's the No. 1 on unscripted downs."
That's why Anarumo started off his players' week showing them that play. If you think the Chiefs were fast in '21, they certainly aren't any slower with No. 1. And Bell says "Five," Hollywood Brown, can also play that role.
The Bengals say the best way to attack that elite speed is with eyes and depth.
"Most of the time, when (Mahomes) scrambles backwards, he's scrambling to throw. If he escapes through the B gap, he's gone. We know that," Anarumo says. "The point there is the longer he holds it, the deeper you get. He can throw it as far as he needs to. It's the whole thing, deep ones go short and short ones go deep on scramble drills. They go deep. We've got to make sure we stay deep."
No one has controlled Mahomes and the Chiefs like Anarumo: In their five matchups Cincinnati holds a 3-2 edge. Mahomes has averaged 265 yards passing, 30 fewer than his career average, on 7.7 yards per attempt, below his career of eight. It's not by much, but his 103.4 passer rating in those five games is a tick below his career mark of 103.5.
But they didn't stay deep last year when a brilliantly pitched game was spoiled by a 67-yard pass to wide receiver Rashee Rice and a 41-yarder to wide receiver Justin Watson. Both came in the third quarter and led to two of Harrison Butker's six unanswered field goals that overtook the Bengals' 17-7 lead in K.C.'s 25-17 win.
Watson got loose on a bad safety rotation. Rice also seemed to use a lapse in communication to get free of cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt.
"We win the game without them," says Bell of the two plays, who wasn't here but has dissected the film.
They don't think that's going to happen again with Bell and Stone at safety and with Taylor-Britt and the other young starting cornerback, Dax Hill, a year older.
"It's something we've cleaned up," Hilton says. "We're a lot more confident in our communication and with guys who have another year in the system."
If the speed isn't enough, Mahomes also has the most creative tight end who ever lived in Travis Kelce.
Or, as Bell says, No. 87.
Like Mahomes, Kelce is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. How do you know? After 160 games, he's got a 2,000-yard lead on another first-ballot tight end in Rob Gronkowski.
But not against the Bengals. Kelce has averaged six catches for 54 yards with three touchdowns in his last five games against Cincinnati in a career he's averaged 5.7 catches and 71 yards per game.
What the Bengals regard as Kelce's strength isn't so much what he does at the top of his route, but what he does after it. It's at that point he freelances and opens up the most dangerous YAC in the game. No one has more yards after catch since Kelce came into the league a dozen seasons ago.
"That's where him and Mahomes make their magic. On the second half of plays," Hilton says. "Their scramble drill is one of the best in the league and we're prepared for it. Once (Mahomes) escapes outside the pocket, we know he's not looking to run. He's looking to make plays downfield. Up front those guys have to keep him in the pocket and the back end has to plaster."
In '21 and '22, the Bengals had a tight end specialist in safety Tre Flowers. Dax Hill covered a bunch of the tight ends when he played safety last season, but the Bengals have always attacked Kelce by committee. Last year, in holding him to three catches for 16 yards, Pro Football Focus says the Bengals had four different players on Kelce on each of his four targets: Taylor-Britt, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, linebacker Logan Wilson and safety Nick Scott.
"A collection of guys," Bell says. "Play your leverage, get your keys and keep your eyes on him. When (Mahomes) catches (the snap), he looks for him."
The Bengals may be better equipped to cover Kelce than ever before because of the multiple number of versatile defensive backs in the fold, starting with Dax Hill.
"Many have tried to handle him by himself, and that's a tough challenge," Anarumo says. "So whoever goes out there, you know, sometimes they'll be by themselves. Sometimes will help them. I don't think we'll ever give them a steady dose of leaving them alone."
As dangerous as Mahomes is downfield, Anarumo believes Arrowhead's most important grass is in the final 20 yards.
"I think it starts with doing a great job in the red zone, limiting touchdowns," Anarumo says. "They move the ball on everybody, but you've got to make sure to keep them out of the end zone. When we've done well against them, we've made them kick field goals, and we've been able to get takeaways."
The Bengals' monstrous stand in the low red zone in the '21 title game fueled one victory over the Chiefs. When nose tackle D.J Reader knocked down a third-down pass headed for Kelce on a snap at the Bengals 8 during their first possession of the Dec. 4, 2022 game at Paycor, that proved to be the winning margin in a 27-24 victory. Holding them to six field goals last year almost gave Burrow backup Jake Browning a win over Mahomes.
"Red zone plays are just knowing who is going to get the ball," Hilton says. "They don't run many plays in the red zone. It's about getting the ball to the playmakers. We key on those guys and force them to play left-handed."
On Thursday afternoon, Bell is calling out the numbers.
87, 1, 5.
"Players. Not plays," says Bell, who can remind his guys they've made their share against the champs.
