The Kansas City Chiefs’ first two contests of the 2024 NFL season will be rematches of the previous three AFC Championship Games.

The Chiefs will host the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 of the NFL, which the league announced on Monday. On Tuesday, it was made public that the defending Super Bowl champions would take on the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bengals and Chiefs will face off for the fourth time in as many seasons. Between the regular season and the playoffs, they have played seven times total since the beginning of 2021.

In Week 17 of the previous season, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs defeated the Bengals 25-17. Joe Burrow, who had wrist surgery in November, was not present for that game.

Burrow has been cleared for everything save contact, however, he is still in the rehab phase of his recuperation. His readiness for the start of training camp in July doesn’t seem to be a concern.

Burrow told journalists last week, “I felt good the last two days.” “I am not sure how it will feel until I wake up in the morning, but the past few days have definitely given me encouragement.”

Just three quarterbacks in the NFL during the Mahomes era—Burrow, Ryan Tannehill, and Jared Goff—have started multiple games during the regular season without suffering a loss to the Chiefs. They are all 2-0.

Burrow defeated Mahomes and the Chiefs in his first three starts, and that victory extends to the playoffs. In the 2021 AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead, the Bengals surprised Kansas City by winning 27-24 in overtime after trailing by 18 points.

In the AFC Championship Game the following year, Mahomes and the Chiefs exacted revenge on the Bengals. Despite having a severe ankle sprain, he went 29 of 43 for 326 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-20 victory.

In the last five seasons, the Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in a row. They want to make history by being the first squad to win the Lombardi Trophy three times in a row. The last club to make it to the Super Bowl in three consecutive seasons was the New England Patriots (2016–2018).

The Bengals, along with the Chiefs and Ravens, should be considered among the AFC’s top Super Bowl contenders this season, if Burrow stays healthy. When they visit Kansas City on September 15, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate their position within that hierarchy.