Chiefs celebrating blowout of Bengals, impressive 6-1 start

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It’s hard to tell these days what’s more entertaining to watch: Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs’ high-flying offense or their crazy, creative touchdown celebrations.

Opposing teams are getting a heavy dose of both.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt (27) celebrates his touchdown with offensive lineman Eric Fisher (72) as Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates (30) looks away, during the second half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

The latest victim was the Cincinnati Bengals, who watched Mahomes torch their banged-up defense for 358 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-10 Chiefs victory Sunday night. Kareem Hunt added three touchdowns, Tyreek Hill and Demetrius Harris also scored and Kansas City rolled up 551 yards total offense in the rout.

“We have an amazing time. It’s always fun when you’re winning,” Harris said with a smile. “It’s a lot of fun with the group of guys we’ve got, and we’re just taking advantage of it.”

That goes for those touchdown celebrations.

After catching his TD pass, Harris sprinted about 30 yards to what he thought was a camera well and jumped in as if it was a foxhole. It turned out to be a rough landing — it was actually some machinery — though he followed through with his routine by tossing the football as if it was a grenade.

“Bombs away and everyone get out of the way,” he said.

Later, Hill caught a TD pass in the corner of the end zone, sprinted to an official and fainted at his feet. Left tackle Eric Fisher ran over to provide CPR — as if the Chiefs offense needed resuscitation — and Hill popped to his feet. He did a backflip before racing back to the sideline.

Then there was the choreographed dance following another touchdown. Everyone knew the moves except Mahomes, who looked decidedly out of place as he danced along.

“It’s fun. We have a lot of young guys on the team that just have fun playing football,” he said. “But they didn’t tell me what they were doing, so I was just trying to go along.”

Yes, the Chiefs (6-1) were having all kinds of fun Sunday night.

The Bengals (4-3) were in no mood to laugh.

Andy Dalton was held to 148 yards passing with a touchdown and a pick-6, and Joe Mixon had 50 yards rushing, as the NFL’s worst defense held Cincinnati to 239 yards of total offense.

“Going in you have to do a really good job, first of all making first downs, to be able to make adjustments, to be able to tackle, to make plays in the open field, and we didn’t do a very good job of that,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “It just comes down to as simple as that.”

As the Chiefs continue celebrating their win, and the Bengals try to pick up the pieces from their second straight loss, here are some of the key takeaways:

BANGED-UP BENGALS

TE Tyler Kroft (knee), LB Nick Vigil (knee) and CB Darqueze Dennard (shoulder) missed the game with injuries, and they were soon joined by three more crucial pieces. LB Vontaze Burfict limped off with a hip injury, WR John Ross hurt his groin and TE Mason Schreck hurt his knee.

MILESTONE WIN

Chiefs coach Andy Reid picked up his 200th win, though he deflected any acclaim to the players and personnel who have helped him along the way. He needs one more win to tie Dan Reeves for eighth on the NFL’s career list. “He’s a great coach. You want to be around him,” Hunt said. “He is definitely one of the best coaches of all time.”

SUNDAY SLOWDOWN

While the Chiefs improved to 8-3 in Sunday night games, the Bengals were probably miffed when the game got flexed from its noon kickoff. Cincinnati dropped to 3-16 on Sunday night and has now lost nine consecutive games.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

Chiefs safety Ron Parker returned Dalton’s interception for a second-half score, giving the Chiefs two touchdowns in a span of 9 seconds. Parker had a feeling it was coming, too. “That’s what I was waiting on my whole career,” he said. “It was crazy. My daughter asked before the game like, ‘Daddy, how come you don’t score touchdowns?’ So that one was for her.”

CELEB SIGHTINGS

NASCAR star Clint Bowyer raced his way into the next round of the playoffs with a strong run at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. Then he raced to Arrowhead Stadium as a guest of Chiefs general manager Brett Veach. The two met earlier this year and became fast friends, and Bowyer — a native of Emporia, Kansas — got the star treatment Sunday night complete with an autographed Mahomes jersey.

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