KANSAS CITY, MO — The Super Bowl matchup is officially set as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 29. A deadlock lasted deep into the 4th quarter before Chiefs’ Kicker Harrison Butker kicked a 45-yard field goal with eight seconds left. The 23-20 victory sent the Chiefs to the Super Bowl for the third time in the past four years.
Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow had a shot at winning the game with under two minutes to play, but a sack on third down forced the Bengals to punt the ball back to the Chiefs. Rookie receiver Sky Moore received the punt and took the ball back to midfield. A hobbled Patrick Mahomes completed one pass to move the ball over the midfield stripe with 21 seconds remaining.
Faced with a 3rd and four at the Bengals’ 47-yard line Patrick Mahomes scrambled around in the pocket but found no open receivers downfield. He rolled to his right and beat the opposition to the outside to pick up the first down. Mahomes went out of bounds on the play before a Bengals’ defender shoved him to the ground. The referees threw a flag for unnecessary roughness on the play to move the Chiefs into field goal range.
Butker nailed the 45-yard field goal on the ensuing play, and the Chiefs held off the Bengals on the kickoff to secure the 23-20 win.
The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the San Francisco 49ers earlier in the day, 31-7, to send the Eagles to the Super Bowl. The final matchup for the championship game is set between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 5:30 p.m.
Patrick Mahomes finished the game with 29/43 passing for 326 yards and two touchdowns.
Joe Burrow went 26-41 for 270 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. The young Bengals quarterback had two crucial mistakes in the contest that put the Bengals behind early in this game. He needs to learn from the mistakes made, and the Bengals will win these games in the future.
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