As we approach Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of the best games in conference history.
We previously previewed the top NFC Championship games of all time, and now it’s time to look at the other side, which features appearances from Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and John Elway, among others.
With so many unforgettable moments both recently and in the distant past, let’s relive the glory days while reviewing the five best AFC Championship Games in NFL history.
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5. 1987 AFC Championship Game: Cleveland Browns fumble opportunity away
- Final score: Denver Broncos 38, Cleveland Browns 33
And you thought your favorite team’s worst playoff losses were bad. Try being a Cleveland Browns fan. Back in 1986, the Browns appeared to have secured a victory over John Elway’s Broncos, but Cleveland running back Earnest Byner coughed up the ball on the two-yard line, and Denver recovered.
Had Byner not fumbled, history could have been entirely different, but instead, the Broncos marched on to the Super Bowl, where they would lose to Washington. Yet many Browns fans still look back and wonder what could have been had Byner not fumbled, which would have possibly sent Cleveland to the Super Bowl for a matchup against the Hogs instead.
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4. 2018 AFC Championship Game: Tom Brady marches Patriots to victory
- Final score: New England Patriots 37, Kansas City Chiefs 31
OK, so maybe the Burrow vs. Mahomes wasn’t quite the old vs. new QB matchup, but the Brady vs. Mahomes in early 2019 definitely was. Here you have Tom Brady, who many refer to as the greatest quarterback of all time, against Mahomes, who is well on his way to setting several all-time passing records, provided he can stay healthy and enjoy a long career.
In Brady’s ninth AFC Championship and Mahomes’ first, it was the experienced vet who stayed calm, cool, and collected to advance to the Super Bowl. But it didn’t come without controversy and plenty of ‘what could have been’ moments.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Patriots trailing by four, Brady threw an interception to Charvarius Ward, but Kansas City pass rusher Dee Ford was actually ruled offsides, erasing Brady’s mistake. The Patriots scored a touchdown two plays later to take a three-point lead, which the Chiefs later matched with just 11 seconds left to send the game to OT.
But Brady didn’t leave any doubts in overtime, leading a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to send Mahomes packing in his first year of playoff football. The Patriots would then defeat the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl two weeks later.
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3. 2021 AFC Championship Game: Joe Burrow takes Bengals to Super Bowl
- Final score: Cincinnati Bengals 27, Kansas City Chiefs 24
Our top two games on this list took place over two decades ago. This game feels like it just took place last week. In some ways, the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Kansas City Chiefs represented a passing of the torch, from Patrick Mahomes down to Joe Burrow as the next generation’s rising star. More so, it was likely the first of what could be several playoff matchups over the next decade, much like the Brady/Manning battles.
Few anticipated the Bengals to be equipped to top the high-scoring Chiefs, but Burrow showed he deserved to be mentioned among the best QBs of today, and it didn’t come without adversity.
The Bengals trailed the Chiefs 21-10 at halftime before outscoring Kansas City 14-3 after the break to send the game to overtime. With the Chiefs winning the coin toss, and handing Mahomes the ball first, many felt this could be the expected death blow to the Bengals, but that’s not what happened at all.
On just the third play of overtime, Bengals safety Vonn Bell intercepted Mahomes, which set up Evan McPherson to drill a 20-yard game-winning field goal, sending Cincinnati to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1988.
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2. 1986 AFC Championship Game: John Elway leads ‘The Drive’
- Final score: Denver Broncos 23, Cleveland Browns 20
When ranking the top AFC Championship Games of all time, many would refer to “The Drive” as one of the best moments in NFL history. While it wasn’t in a Super Bowl, the 15-play, 98-yard game-tying drive led by John Elway went down in history as an iconic sequence.
In some senses, this was simply a continuation of what we’d seen from the Broncos in the 1980s, where they defeated the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Championship round three times in four years. What’s even crazier about that fact is just how close the Browns came to winning their first of four losses to the Broncos in the late 80s.
The Browns had just taken a 20-13 lead, thanks to a touchdown pass by Bernie Kosar, but the Broncos shot themselves in the foot by dropping the ensuing kick return, resulting in John Elway beginning the drive at his own two-yard-line, needing a touchdown to tie the game.
While this seemed like a task too tough to complete, Elway made it look easy, dropping dime after dime while also using his trademark mobility to move the chains and escape defenders. In the end, he would find Mark Jackson for the five-yard touchdown to tie the contest at 20 points apiece. Rich Karlis drilled a 33-yard field goal to send the Broncos to the Super Bowl, and the rest is history.
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1. 2006 AFC Championship Game: Peyton Manning leads comeback
- Final score: Indianapolis Colts 38, New England Patriots 34
Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. It was a legendary matchup between two future Hall of Fame QBs and two players who many regarded as possibly the best players at their position of all time. Yet, this was in 2006, and while Brady already had three Super Bowl rings, Manning had none.
Manning was in his ninth NFL season and was certainly among the best signal-callers in football, but a new narrative was beginning to emerge — that the Sheriff couldn’t win the big game. The Colts had been to the playoffs in six of the past seven seasons but only had three postseason wins in that span.
Early on in the latest Manning vs. Brady matchup, it was the Patriots who established an early 18-point lead by the second quarter, and Manning had just thrown a pick-six to Asante Samuel to erase any momentum the Colts may have had.
But Manning didn’t fold. Instead, he helped the Colts score 18 unanswered points to tie the score in the third quarter. Yet Brady didn’t want to go home empty-handed either, and began putting more points on the board and held a 34-31 lead with just under four minutes to go.
That’s when Manning’s leadership shone brightest, leading a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. But Brady had one last chance, with 62 seconds left to try and overcome the four-point deficit. Instead, he found Colts defensive back Marlin Jackson for the game-sealing interception. On a day where we saw both legendary quarterbacks make mistakes, it was Brady whose error was much more costly.
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