The Cincinnati Bengals will likely have been seen by almost every football fan in America by Week 2 of the 2024 regular season.
After the Bengals open with the Baltimore Ravens, they will play the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2, according to a post on X from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Bengals and Chiefs played in the AFC Championship Game following the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The Bengals won the first matchup on Jan. 30, 2022, before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. After the Chiefs won on Jan. 29, 2023, they went on to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
Two QBs, Two Contracts Totaling Almost $1 Billion
For what’s going to be on the field, the headliners for this game are going to be a pair of elite quarterbacks who already have a history of epic matchups — Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Even with that history, the two couldn’t be further apart when it comes to where their careers stand in 2023 — Mahomes is chasing NFL history with a third consecutive Super Bowl win and Burrow is coming off a second season-ending injury in four seasons.
Through Mahomes’ first four NFL seasons — including backing up Alex Smith as a rookie in 2017 — he won his first NFL Most Valuable Player award, made two Super Bowls and won one, was a three-time NFL All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler.
Through Burrow’s first four seasons he’s made one Super Bowl and one Pro Bowl. In 2020, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 11 and missed the final six games of the season. In 2023, he suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11 and missed the final seven games of the season.
Burrow and Mahomes are also two of the highest-paid athletes not just in the NFL but in the entire world.
Mahomes signed a 10-year, $503 million contract in March 2020 that was the fourth-largest contract in the history of professional sports. In March 2023, Burrow signed a 5-year, $275 million contract extension that gave him the highest annual salary ($55 million) in NFL history.
Taylor Swift Watch 2024: Will She Be There?
One of the more amazing parts of the Chiefs’ run to a second consecutive Super Bowl win during the 2023 season was the inclusion of pop superstar Taylor Swift on the way to another championship.
Swift has been dating three-time Super Bowl champion tight end Travis Kelce since July 2023 and was a constant presence at games last season, including through the playoffs and the Super Bowl.
Swift’s schedule playing on the Eras Tour would allow her to be at the Chiefs-Bengals game on Sept. 15. She closes out a five-night set at London’s Wembley Stadium on Aug. 20 and is on break until a show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Oct. 18.
According to The Associated Press, The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time, and in 2023 became the first tour to top $1 billion in ticket sales.
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Bengals Face Two-Time Defending Super Bowl Champs in Week 2