Bengals stun Chiefs, Advance to Super Bowl

The Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs matched up in the AFC Championship game this Sunday, which is the second time they’ve competed with each other this season.

In the first matchup on January 2nd, the Bengals came away with a 34-31 win with some incredible performances by the Bengals dynamic duo of LSU stars in Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. Burrow totaled 446 yards and four touchdowns at a very efficient rate with 30 completions on 39 attempts. His right hand man, Ja’Marr Chase, set the record for most receiving yards by a rookie in a game with 266 yards on 11 receptions including three touchdown receptions. For the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes put up 259 yards and two touchdowns, but fell short of the win.

In round two of this matchup the stakes were much higher as the winner would advance to the Super Bowl. The Bengals, once again, came into the game as underdogs despite the last meeting between these two teams. The Chiefs came out hot and hungry for revenge as they took an early 21-3 lead with 5:04 remaining in the second quarter.

At this point in the game, some thought that the Bengals wouldn’t be able to mount a comeback due to the Chiefs offense looking absolutely unstoppable, going three for three on touchdowns on their first three drives. The Bengals were then able to put together a beautiful seven play, 70 yard drive that resulted in a Samaje Perine 41 yard receiving touchdown.

This cut the Chief’s lead to 21-10 going into the half after the Bengals got a huge goal line stop right before the clock expired.

In the third quarter the Bengals were able to hold the Chiefs scoreless while adding a 31 yard field goal by Evan McPherson and then an interception by Bengals big man, B.J. Hill, which led to a receiving touchdown by Ja’Marr Chase including another reception from Trent Taylor for the two point conversion leveling the score at 21 a piece entering the fourth quarter.

The Bengals struck first in the fourth with a 52 yard field goal by Evan McPherson to give them a three point advantage, and then the Chiefs answered with their own 44 yard field goal by Harrison Butker as time expired, which sent the game to overtime.

Prior to this game tying kick, the Bengals put together a series’ of stops preventing the Chiefs from winning the game on a touchdown.

In modern day football, we all know the importance of the overtime coin toss as the team that receives the ball first has the opportunity to win the game on a touchdown without giving the opposing team’s offense a chance to possess the ball. This is a very controversial topic in it’s own, but the Bengals were able to defy the statistics as Vonn Bell picked off Patrick Mahomes and gave the Bengals a chance to win the game.

After eight plays the Bengals were in field goal range and sent out Evan McPherson to attempt a 31 yard field goal to send the Bengals to the Super Bowl. McPherson has been money all season with 12 field goals made from 50+ yards, which is the most by any kicker in a single season ever, 3 game-winning field goals in overtime or as time expired in the regular season, and two game-winning field goals in overtime or as time expired in the playoffs. With this being said, Bengals head coach, Zac Taylor, has all the confidence in the world in McPherson, and he delivered.

The Bengals defeated the Chiefs 27-24 and advanced to compete for the Lombardi Trophy against the winner of the NFC Championship between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. This is the Bengals third Super Bowl appearance in franchise history with their most recent appearance in 1989, and they will also look to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history.