SportyTV | Kelce refutes claims Chiefs prevented Bengals from reaching playoffs

Travis Kelce dismissed claims the Kansas City Chiefs fielded an understrength side against the Denver Broncos to lose and deny the Cincinnati Bengals a place in the playoffs.

The Bengals, who were 9-8 in the regular season, headed into the final weekend needing to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, which they did 19-17, while requiring the Broncos and Miami Dolphins to lose in order to progress to the postseason.

Though the Dolphins were beaten by the New York Jets, Denver sealed the AFC's final wildcard place with a 38-0 rout of conference champions Kansas, who rested several key players.

But speaking to brother Jason on their New Heights podcast, Kelce refuted speculation the Chiefs deliberately went out to deny Cincinnati.

"I ain't scared of f***ing nobody," he said. "I wanted them in the f***ing playoffs.

"I want to slay every dragon one by one, like Mortal Kombat. I don't even want this to be like we play the lowest seed. Just give me the best teams.

"AFC, NFC, give me all of them, Mortal Kombat-style. I'll go through every f***ing one of them, just giving them my best f***ing effort. I ain't scared of a single soul, man.

"Listen, I love competing against the greatest. The Bengals were a fun-ass f***ing team to watch there towards the end of the season.

"It's a shame they didn't make it in the playoffs, because they would have made the playoffs that much f***ing crazier and that much more fun."