Cincinnati mayor wisely avoids trash talk while announcing Bengals-Chiefs Week 17 matchup

Cincinnati major Aftab Pureval has learned his lesson.

After taking maybe the biggest L of the 2023 NFL postseason, the mayor made a good-humored poke at his trash talk gone wrong in a video posted by the Bengals on Wednesday. The video announces the Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs will face each other in a rematch on New Year’s Eve in Week 17 this year, ahead of the NFL’s full schedule release on Thursday.

“The Bengals play the Chiefs Week 17, and I’ve got nothing else to add,” Pureval said.

Also appearing in the video as the supposed camera man is Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who joined the team in free agency this offseason on a four-year, $64 million contract after playing the last two years with the Chiefs.

“I think that was better than last time,” Brown adds.

In case you weren’t paying attention to the run-up, or postgame, of the 2023 AFC championship game between the Chiefs and Bengals, the context here is that Pureval made the mistake of hitting the Chiefs with some bizarre trash talk before the game.

At the time, the Bengals were 3-0 against the Chiefs since drafting Joe Burrow. They and their fans made sure everyone knew that in the week ahead, but Pureval took it all a step further when he issued an official mayoral proclamation requesting Burrow take a paternity test to confirm if he is Patrick Mahomes’ father.

Let’s just say the Chiefs and their fans noticed.

Mahomes’ wife called the proclamation “weak and embarrassing.” The mayor of Kansas City said to count the rings. “Modern Family” actor and noted Chiefs fan Eric Stonestreet called Pureval “a dork.”

And then the Chiefs beat the Bengals 23-20 thanks to a heroic performance from Mahomes. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had some words for Pureval after the game, telling the mayor to “know your role and shut your mouth, ya jabroni.”

To his credit, Pureval took the well-deserved pounding with class, something that earned him Kelce’s respect after the fact. But that’s really all he could do.

Football fans are going to be snickering every time Pureval’s name comes up for a while as a classic example for why you don’t trash talk a future Hall of Fame quarterback just because you’ve beat him before, especially with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

With Wednesday’s video, Pureval at least managed to join in on the joke.

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