Joe Burrow says trash talk is part of what makes football fun

The city of Cincinnati provided plenty of bulletin board material going into the AFC Championship Game, and even though it backfired, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said it is all part of what makes football fun. 

The trash talk ranged from calling the Kansas City Chiefs' home field "Burrowhead Stadium," a reference to Burrow and the Bengals winning three straight games against the Chiefs, to the mayor of Cincinnati posting a video that took on the tone of a professional wrestling hype video. 

When the Chiefs ended up winning the game, they shoved all of that talk back in the Bengals' faces. 

And Burrow had no problem with that. 

"I just think that's what makes football fun," Burrow said, via Pro Football Talk. "It's all love at the end of the day. They know the respect that we have for them and we know the respect that they have for us. It's an intense, emotional game and things like that are going to happen but I think that's why the game is fun."

Here is the thing about trash and bulletin board material. 

It is fun. 

It is fun for the media to write about, it's fun for fans to read about and listen to and it's fun for everybody to take part in as long as it does not cross the line into something obscene or deeply personal.

But mockingly calling a rival's stadium the name of your starting quarterback? That's funny. 

That same rival calling you out after beating you? Also funny. 

It also has nothing to do with the outcome of the game. The Kansas City Chiefs did not suddenly decide they needed to try harder in the AFC Championship Game -- with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line! -- because the mayor of Cincinnati insulted them. They were going to play the same way because they are highly trained professionals that have dedicated their entire lives to that moment. 

It does not impact how a team prepares or how it plays on game day.

What it does do is impact how teams handle victory after the game. And if you are a player or a team that can not cash the check that you wrote with your words going into the game, you better be ready to be called on it. Because you will be. And the Bengals were. And that was also fun.