The Cincinnati Bengals found themselves down 21-3 late in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead.
That’s when sophomore quarterback Joe Burrow threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Samaje Perine, pulling the game to within 21-10 heading into halftime.
From there, it was a combination of major struggles on the part of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and some tremendous defense from Cincinnati.
Ultimately, the Cincinnati Bengals took a 24-21 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on a field goal by Evan McPherson.
Like we saw last week against the Bills, Mahomes got the ball with a chance to become a hero. After driving Kansas City down to the Bengals’ four-yard line with 1:26 left, Mahomes’ struggles continued. That included taking two sacks and forcing a Harrison Butker 44-yard field goal to tie the game as regulation expired.
The scene from last week seemed to repeat itself as Kansas City won the toss heading into overtime. Unlike last week, Mahomes didn’t lead his team to a touchdown on the opening possession. After almost being picked off by Eli Apple on second down, Mahomes was intercepted by stud Bengals safety Vonn Bell– giving Cincinnati the ball at about mid-field.
What followed was a 31-yard field goal from McPherson to give the Bengals the AFC Championship and an absolutely shocking road win over the two-time defending conference champion Chiefs.
It was one of the craziest ends of a game that we have seen in the NFL playoffs since…last week.
By virtue of this upset win, the Bengals head to Super Bowl LVI to take on either the Los Angeles Rams or San Francisco 49ers.