Many teams across different sports have been said to use tough losses as motivation. You've heard the stories. Having the score of a playoff loss shown during practice for all of the offseason. Revolutionary schemes being born after being owned by a rival. It's nothing really new.

But on the surface, the Kansas City Chiefs are acting as if that wasn't the case for them after being eliminated in last season's AFC Championship Game by the Cincinnati Bengals.

And now, both teams are set to face each other again on Sunday in what's expected to be one of the games of the year.

Naturally, every player and coach is answering questions about how last year's game – which resulted in the Bengals advancing to the Super Bowl – impacts the upcoming one.

Some in the Chiefs' building claim it isn't even a conversation.

"Right now, for (Patrick Mahomes) it's week by week to be as consistent as he can be," said Chiefs QB coach Matt Nagy on Thursday. "Regardless of what has happened in the past. I say that to the point that we have not brought it up."

"(Not) one time in our room about anything that has happened," added Nagy. "We know."

When asked about how much they were working on fighting what the Bengals did to them in the second half of the AFC Championship, Patrick Mahomes also downplayed things.

"Not a ton," the Super Bowl-winning quarterback told reporters. "We work on all different types of coverages, and it wasn't like (Cincinnati) did anything that was much different from the first half than they did in the second half."

In that game, the Bengals flustered Mahomes by dropping eight defenders in coverage in 18 dropbacks. The usually unstoppable quarterback looked mortal in those plays as he completed 7-of-14 attempts for 33 yards while being sacked four times.

That defensive success sparked the Bengals to come back from an eleven-point deficit at halftime and end it with a 27-24 win in overtime.

If there's one thing we know about NFL coaches – especially great ones like Chiefs HC Andy Reid – is that they'll do everything to not get caught again with the same plan.

That shows in Mahomes' improvement this season against drop-eight coverages as shown in the tweet below:

I dare the Bengals to drop 8 in coverage again. pic.twitter.com/jauvDTeDtu

— ??‼️ (@LanceTHESPOKEN) December 1, 2022

Now granted, Kansas City has had to change its offense for many other reasons, including Tyreek Hill's departure.

But the drastic improvement against three-man pass-rushing schemes surely has to do with sleepless nights by Reid's coaching staff after that loss to the Bengals.

Simply put, the Chiefs don't want to lose against Cincinnati again. And they know it. Why wouldn't they prepare to face what derailed their season again?

Another example of this can be found in their run game.

Nate Tice from The Athletic Football Show pointed out how the Chiefs have run "counter" in 21% of their snaps since their bye week (a run scheme that has a running back faking the run one away before running in the other direction with the help of pulling offensive linemen).

This type of run plays works as a beater against the odd and bear defensive fronts the Bengals have thrived on recently. Tice argues it's almost as if they're getting ready for this defense specifically.

Andy Reid was more open about the whole thing and pointed out the Chiefs have worked on battling what the Bengals showed them in that game.

"They dropped eight and played man‐coverage and had a thief player rolling around in there and they executed well – better than how we did," said Reid about the Bengals' defense last year.

"We didn’t do very well with it. So, they got us. But we’ve worked on it, I’m sure they’ve worked on new things, and we’ll see how it goes.”

And he's right. Whether they show it or not, the Bengals have been in the Chiefs' minds all this time. To beat them again on Sunday, they'll have to rely on new things.

Featured image via Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK