KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Harrison Butker’s leg had to be sore.

After all, the Kansas City kicker booted six field goals and came through when he was needed — as the host Chiefs knocked off Cincinnati 25-17 on Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Butker also kicked away any hopes the Bengals had to make the NFL playoffs.

“Any time you lose it sucks,” Bengals quarterback Jake Browning said after the loss. “Especially when we needed that win.”

The victory handed the Chiefs their eighth straight AFC West title, second only to the New England Patriots’ 11 consecutive division (AFC East) crowns.

The story was indeed Butker’s consistent leg, but it was also missed opportunities on Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s part and the lack of offense.

Offensive lineman and team captain Ted Karras said the blame for the loss falls largely on his unit.

“When you give up six field goals and lose, that’s on the offense,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in here with a lot of heart and who care. Losing in the NFL is a lonely feeling, but we’ll stick together and rally up.”

The Bengals had a chance to rally on the final drive to win the game, but Browning was sacked four out of five plays — and pressured on the last incomplete throw.

“In a situation where you’re just hanging on, you’re in two-minutes and hanging on for some long-developing routes,” Browning said. “I don’t know what exactly happened out there because I’m looking downfield trying to throw the ball to somebody to convert …and yeah — got sacked.”

In the last two regular=season loses, the Bengals looked lost, confused and schizophrenic.

They went 8-3 against non-AFC North teams during the season, but winless in their own division at 0-5.

This huge 0 in the AFC North came from the same team which won it the past two seasons.

In Browning’s second three starts after taking over after Joe Burrow went out for the season with a wrist injury, he played magnificent.

He was the talk of the NFL.

He was consistent, gutsy and on target.

He played with confidence and rose to the occasion.

He put up wins over Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Minnesota, and had the Who Dey Nation hopeful for a playoff run.

It was all just a tease, because in Pittsburgh and in Kansas City, he played timid and muddled.

On Sunday against Kansas City, he threw for 197 yards and completed 19 of 33 passes with one touchdown.

In the loss against the Steelers, he threw three interceptions.

In the first half against the Chiefs on Sunday, he put Cincinnati (8-8) in front of the Chiefs 17-13.

But the offense was shut out in the second half and rendered useless.

The Bengals did have a chance to extend the lead to 20-13, but Taylor opted to go for it on fourth-and-one at the Kansas City 6-yard line early in the third.

Bengals running back Joe Mixon was stuffed for a loss, and the Chiefs (10-6) took over on downs and Butker later booted a field goal of his own from 27 yards away to close the gap to 17-16.

He finished the game by kicking three more field goals, while Cincinnati struggled to move the ball anywhere.

“We got stopped on fourth-and-one and just struggled from then on,” Taylor said. “It was fourth-and-one and we liked the odds of getting it. I just felt like fourth-and-one we could get it.”

But the odds caught up with Taylor.

Maybe the odds of making this year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas were also against Cincinnati.

Why not kick the field goal and take the sure three points on the road against the defending Super Bowl champs?

Why not?

I remember watching Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys legendary coach), and how he always said you take the points when you can get them when a game is close.

Those three points would have put the Bengals up by a touchdown — something the Chiefs did not accomplish in the second half.

You widen the lead.

You build momentum.

Take the points when they are given to you.

Landry knew something about football, because he had a couple of Super Bowl rings as proof.

Taylor needs to take a lesson from some of the games’ greatest coaches like Landry and Bill Belichick.

In the first half, the Bengals looked like the same team that defeated Jacksonville 34-31 in overtime on Dec. 4 on Monday Night Football.

Browning connected with Mixon for a seven-yard TD strike, and then plowed into the end zone for his own one-yard touchdown plunge for the 17-7 lead.

After that, it was downhill once the third quarter started.

But on the other end, the Chiefs were effective in moving the ball and putting themselves in position to score — even if it was only field goals.

They add up quickly.

“I thought we did a lot of great things today,” Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “Offensively, I thought we did a good job of just letting the game come to us: not trying to force it and not trying to do too much. Obviously, we had the one fumble in the first half — but other than that, I thought guys did a great job. We’ve got to continue to get better in the red zone. But Harrison Butker? He saved us. He knocked through six field goals. When you have a defense like that shutting the door, that’s how you’re going to win football games.”

Mahomes, the two-time NFL MVP, finished the game with 245 yards passing — and completed 21 of 29 passes with one TD.

On the ground, running back Isiah Pacheco put up 130 yards on the Bengals defense — and caught one TD pass.

“It was great to have the guys have a championship with the AFC West,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “That’s a positive thing. I know how they are; they’re not going to rest on that. But it is exciting for them to get a taste — especially the new guys who haven’t had that experience.”

For Taylor, he needs to watch and learn from some of the more successful coaches in the NFL.

The ones which win take points when they are presented.

The time for going with your gut and following the cheers in the crowd “go for it” happens in the early games of the season.

When going to the playoffs is on the line, take the sure-fire field goals.

You cannot replace points – you can only lose an opportunity to score.

Would the Bengals have won the game?

Who knows?

But a 10-point lead in the third quarter is much better than giving momentum to the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Instead of a 20-13 lead, it closed quickly to 17-16.

The season has one more game left, and the Bengals have an opportunity to put up a win in the AFC North against Cleveland at The Jungle.

The Browns are headed to the AFC playoffs, but Cincinnati can salvage a win to go into 2024 on the right foot (perhaps the foot of Evan McPherson).

“These guys are doing everything they can, doing all they can,” Taylor added. “The season is not over. We have a big game left on Sunday.”