Chiefs GM Brett Veach says it’s ‘disingenuous’ to say Bengals were lucky to beat KC
It’ll be another seven months before the Chiefs play a game that counts, so the sting of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game loss is likely to stay with the players and coaches for a long time.
The Cincinnati Bengals wiped out an 18-point deficit at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday and beat the Chiefs 27-24 in overtime to advance to Super Bowl LVI.
A multitude of things went wrong for the Chiefs in the second half of loss, including a pair of turnovers. One interception gave the Bengals the ball inside the KC 30-yard line.
A couple of other big moments: Not scoring a point at the end of the first half despite having the ball on the Bengals’ 1-yard line and driving to the Cincinnati 4-yard line late in the game and having to settle for a field goal.
“Like Coach (Reid) always says: When you have an opportunity to work in the industry for a long time, you’ll have a few good shots to win some memorable games and be a part of some epic moments,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said Tuesday in a call with reporters.
“But at the same time, it’s also equally as true that if you’re in this profession long enough, you’d probably be a part of some tough losses and some disappointing moments. And certainly I would say we can all agree that Sunday was just one of those days that was disappointing for us.”
Credit to the Bengals
While disappointed about not getting back to the Super Bowl, Veach made a point of giving the Bengals their due.
And Veach wanted to be clear: Cincinnati did what it needed to do to get a deserved victory.
“I just want to congratulate the Cincinnati Bengals. I know most of the narrative and a lot of dialogue will be about missed opportunities and Chiefs blowing a great opportunity and listen, a lot of that was unforced errors and things that we did, but you have to certainly give the Bengals credit,” Veach said. “It’s kind of like a heavyweight fight where you have a favorite with a big knockout punch, and we came out there and we connected early.
“Credit to Cincinnati for just staying patient with their game plan, credit to the coaches and players for getting up off the mat early and continuing to fight and taking it into the late rounds and ultimately getting a win for them. It’s easy to look at some of the mistakes we did but it’s also I think, disingenuous to not say that Cincinnati didn’t do what they needed to do and that was stay alive in the game and find ways to win. Credit to them. credit to their players and we’ll use this as motivation to get better.”
