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The Kansas City Chiefs’ quest for the Super Bowl has come to an end. The Cincinnati Bengals head to Super Bowl 2022.
After falling behind by 18 points, the Bengals stormed back to beat the Chiefs in overtime of the AFC Championship to advance to their first Super Bowl since 1989.
Vonn Bell picked off Patrick Mahomes just 14 seconds into overtime, allowing Evan McPherson to kick a 31-yard field goal to win it for Cincinnati.
Kansas City won the overtime coin toss, but the Bengals defense stepped up to deny them a third straight trip to the Super Bowl.
“If you would have told me before the season that we’d be going to the Super Bowl, I probably would have called you crazy,” Burrow said. “But then we played a whole season and nothing surprises me now.”
With 6:04 left in regulation, McPherson kicked a 52-yard field goal to put Cincinnati up 24-21, breaking a stretch of 21 unanswered Bengals points.However, the Chiefs could have done much better. At 1:28 left in regulation, the Bengals had just taken their second timeout and had first-and-goal from the 5. The Bengals’ defensive end Sam Hubbard forced a field goal after sacking Mahomes twice within a matter of seconds after Mahomes ran a 1-yard run.
A Missed Opportunity for Super Bowl 2022
With five seconds left in the half, Apple took down Tyreek Hill on a screen pass, preventing the Chiefs from landing a knockout punch in the end zone. The Chiefs had no more timeouts but tried one last play.
In the second half, the Bengals’ defense maintained its momentum.
In the third quarter, the Bengals forced two punts from the Chiefs on their first two drives, and on their second drive, they added a field goal of 31 yards to cut the deficit to 21-13.
Initially drafted by the Giants, former defensive lineman BJ Hill made the big play by tripping a Mahomes pass and intercepting it himself.
Five plays later, Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase for a 2-yard touchdown.
With 14 seconds left in the third quarter, the Bengals converted the two-point conversion to tie the game 21-21.
As in Week 17, the Bengals came back against the Chiefs after facing an 11-point halftime deficit and won on a McPherson field goal as time expired.
In the second half of Sunday’s game, they destroyed Mahomes.