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As It Happened: Super Bowl-Bound Bengals Outlast Chiefs in Championship Thriller

Cincinnati reaches its first Super Bowl since the 1988 season. Catch up on all of the action from the Bengals’ unthinkable win with our live blog.

Craig Ellenport

As It Happened: Super Bowl-Bound Bengals Outlast Chiefs in Championship Thriller
As It Happened: Super Bowl-Bound Bengals Outlast Chiefs in Championship Thriller /

Bengals 27, Chiefs 24 – FINAL

“Usually when you lose the coin flip against those guys, you’re going home,” Joe Burrow said after the game, just after getting a congratulatory hug from former Bengal Ickey Woods. Woods was a rookie the last time Cincinnati went to the Super Bowl, in the 1988 season. Another rookie, Evan McPherson, kicked the 31-yard field goal in overtime Sunday that gave them a 27–24 win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead, crowning the Bengals champions of the AFC and sending them to Super Bowl LVI.

While Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow drew all the attention, it was the Bengals defense that made this win happen. Down 21–10 at halftime, the Bengals turned up the pressure on Mahomes. They sacked him four times and intercepted him twice. The second pick came on the first possession of overtime, and Burrow then coolly led his offense down the field and put them in position for McPherson to kick his fourth field goal of the game.

Not only did Burrow outplay Mahomes, he surprisingly outrushed him. While Mahomes didn’t hit his prop of 29.5 rushing yards (he had 19), Burrow finished with 25 rushing yards (his prop was 8.5 yards). More importantly for the Bengals, a bunch of those yards came on critical first-down scrambles. As noted earlier, Tyreek Hill was shut out in the second half and missed his prop by half a yard. Ja’Marr Chase (6-54-1) missed his prop but made some big grabs in the second half. Tee Higgins, with a prop of 73.5 yards, finished with six catches for 103 yards.

With the Bengals going to Super Bowl LVI, it gives me a chance to share my favorite story from the last time Cincinnati went to the big game. Super Bowl XXIII was a classic, remembered for Joe Montana leading the 49ers on a 92-yard drive for the game-winning touchdown with 39 seconds left. Boomer Esiason, the Bengals starting QB in that game, had just led his team to a field goal that gave Cincinnati a 16–13 lead with 3:20 to play.

As the 49ers began their game-winning drive, Esiason was on the sidelines talking to a production crew that was getting ready to film the famous Disney World commercial. They explained how the game would end and during the post-game celebration, when prompted, Esiason would shout, “I’m going to Disney World!” Then the 49ers started matriculating the ball down the field. And as Montana hit John Taylor for the game-winner, Esiason remembers one thing: Turning around and seeing the Disney crew sprinting to the other sideline.

The Bengals will be close to Disneyland when they play in Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. And if a guy named Joe wins this time, the Bengals will be just fine with that.

Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson (center) celebrates his game-winning field goal against the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.
Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports

6:18 p.m. ET – Who Dey? AFC Champions!

Tony Romo made a comment about Mahomes being Superman. Clearly he hasn’t been paying attention the last couple of hours. Not only did the Chiefs score just three points in the second half, but Mahomes tried his best to lose this game before it ever went to overtime. The 17-yard sack he took on third-and-goal was actually a fumble that the Chiefs were lucky enough to recover.

Of course, everyone thought the Chiefs had the game wrapped up once they won the OT coin toss, thinking back to last week when Josh Allen and the Bills never saw the ball. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Super Bowl. Mahomes nearly threw a pick six on first down, but then he did throw his second interception of the game, a long pass that got picked by safety Von Bell. 

The Bengals then marched down the field. McPherson then kicked the 31-yard field goal that sends Cincinnati to the Super Bowl!

6:03 p.m. ET – Overtime!

If you had Tyreek Hill on a prop to finish with over 78.5 yards, you felt pretty good at halftime when Hill went into the locker room with 78 yards. Gotta be a winner, right? Just one more yard. So there the Chiefs were, first-and-10 at the Bengals 15-yard line, down by three with two minutes to play. Hill’s second-half numbers: 0 catches, 0 yards. Ouch.

On third-and-goal from the 9, with 39 seconds in regulation, would this be Hill’s time? Mahomes had so much time but couldn’t find anyone … and he gets sacked for a 17-yard loss. What would have been a chip shot to send the game into overtime becomes a 44-yard attempt for Harrison Butker. For the second straight week, Butker nails it on the final play of regulation to force overtime. Wow!

Good news for the bettors: Another chance to get Hill that one last yard. 

5:43 p.m. ET – Bengals Take the Lead

Chris Jones will have nightmares about third-and-7. That was the down and distance for Cincinnati at their own 23-yard line. Jones had not one, but two chances to sack Burrow for a loss that would certainly have set up the Chiefs with good field position. Instead, Burrow somehow wiggled free of Jones in the pocket and then eluded Jones’s dive at his feet, scrambling eight yards for a first down. Three plays later, Burrow avoided another sack and ran for 11 and another first down. A completion to Higgins got them on the edge of field-goal range, but a false start moved them back to the 40. After a completion to Chase, McPherson came in and made a 52-yard field goal to give the Bengals the lead. The Chiefs have 6:04 to save their season.

5:30 p.m. ET – Both Defenses Stepping Up

Credit to CBS Sports’ Nate Burleson, who said during the pregame show (when we could actually hear those guys) that Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed could be dangerous in this game. And just when all the momentum was on the Cincinnati side, Sneed picked off a Burrow pass intended for Chase.

This is where Mahomes turns it around, right? Wrong! Three-and-out for the Chiefs after Mahomes is sacked by Trey Hendrickson. FYI, Hendrickson had a prop of 0.5 sacks in this game. I was tempted to go for that, seeing as how the key free-agent pickup this year was a sack machine. He’s got 1.5 so far today.

5:21 p.m. ET – Brand New Ballgame

With 14 seconds left in the third quarter, the AFC championship game is clearly up for grabs. The Bengals made quick work off it following Mahomes’s interception. 

Burrow hit Chase to set up first-and-goal, then found Chase in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. After Burrow hit his LSU teammate, he then hit Louisiana Tech product Trent Taylor for the 2-point conversion that tied this game.

Just because Joe Montana first had the “Joe Cool” nickname, there’s really no denying Burrow is the second coming of Joe Cool. I’m not going to compare him to Montana when it comes to overall success. Not yet, anyway. But this guy has been unreal under pressure. Pretty impressive.

5:10 p.m. ET – Bengals inch close; Chase enters the picture

Zero punts for the Chiefs in the first half and two already here in the third quarter. Can the Bengals get back in it? Super rookie WR Ja’Marr Chase had just two receptions for eight yards in the first half. With the Chiefs doing all they can to take Chase out of the game, Burrow has been targeting Tee Higgins often. On a second-and-10 from the 45, Burrow did a great job to avoid a sack and get out of the pocket—finding Chase for a gain of 22. Burrow looked for Chase a few plays later, and a pass interference call on K.C. gave the Bengals new life. A screen pass to Mixon gained 18 to set up first-and-goal at the 8. But then linebacker Melvin Ingram made back-to-back big plays. A midseason acquisition for the Chiefs, Ingram sacked Burrow at the 15-yard line, then batted down an attempted screen pass. Cincinnati tried another screen on third down, but it gained just three and the Bengals settled for a field goal to make it 21–13.

And two plays into the next Chiefs drive, Mahomes is picked off! That is Mahomes’ first career interception in an AFC title game—against 12 TD passes.

4:42 p.m. ET – What a Halftime Show!

How awesome that CBS came out of halftime with a promo for the Super Bowl halftime show. Halftime of this game was a classic, with halftime performer Walker Hayes completely drowning out the CBS Sports crew that was broadcasting live from the field. James Brown joked about needing sign language to communicate as Phil Simms, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and Boomer Esiason had to yell as loud as they could to offer up analysis of the first half. They couldn’t hear each other, and it’s likely you couldn’t hear them, either.

Someone at CBS could be in trouble for that debacle, but it was kinda funny.

Meanwhile, the Bengals start the second half with a big stop—the first time Kansas City is forced to punt today. This could get interesting.

4:26 p.m. – Bengals Go To Halftime With Some Hope

“Just when the Bengals needed it!” exclaimed Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast. So very true. Burrow connected on a short pass to RB Samaje Perine, who turned on the burners and powered 41 yards for a touchdown. Tee Higgins had a pair of big catches on the drive. He converted a third-and-5 by extending high into the air to come down with an 8-yard gain. Two plays later, he was on the receiving end of an 18-yard gain after Burrow did well to avoid pressure and make a nice throw on the run.

Perine scored all of two touchdowns in the regular season. He came in at +800 to score an anytime TD in this game. Nice payday for someone.

So closing it to a 21–10 game, the pressure was on Cincinnati’s defense to make sure that would be the score at halftime. Only a minute left in the half—no problem, right? Um, not against a team that needed just 13 seconds to get a field goal at the end of regular in last week’s OT thriller against the Bills. It took almost no time for Mahomes to get K.C. into the red zone. That’s when a pass interference call on Eli Apple set up the Chiefs with first-and-goal at the 1 with 9 seconds left.

But a funny thing happened on the way to 28–10. For the first time all day, the Bengals defense gets a stop. When Hill was tackled at the 1 with time expiring in the half, Cincinnati took a little momentum into halftime. Yes, they’re down by 11—just as they were at halftime of their Week 17 game against the Chiefs. The Bengals outscored the Chiefs, 17-3, in the second half of that game.

Can they possibly hold the Chiefs to three in the second half today? Seems doubtful.

4:05 p.m. ET – It’s Getting Late Early for Cincinnati

Halfway through the second quarter and Mahomes has already hit his TD pass prop. And the Chiefs’ dominance of this game suddenly puts my Mixon prop in serious jeopardy. Sure, he’s already got 30 rushing yards, but with the Bengals now in a 21–3 hole, the Bengals might not be calling many more running plays.

Joe Burrow has talked about how the Bengals have embraced their underdog role, though they no longer think of themselves as being underdogs. Well, they are definitely under something right now, and they’ll have to start digging themselves out.

After hitting Hardman for a 3-yard score, Mahomes has three TD passes to three different receivers—and just one incompletion. Remember earlier this season when people were questioning Mahomes and the Chiefs? No, I don’t remember that either.

3:45 p.m. ET — More Mahomes Magic

After a slow and steady drive on their first possession, the Chiefs came out throwing the next time they got the ball. When Mahomes hit Mecole Hardman for 44 yards to start the drive, the biggest surprise was that it was the final play of a very fast-moving first quarter. If the Bengals’ plan is to shorten the game the keep the Chiefs’ offense off the field, well … it doesn’t seem to matter.

Six plays after the pass to Hardman, Mahomes had a third-and-2 from the Cincinnati 7-yard line. He dropped back and quickly looked like he was about to be sacked. But he somehow danced his way out of the crowded pocket and found Travis Kelce in the end zone. Chiefs 14, Bengals 3. 

SI Betting’s Bill Enright said 2.5 TD passes for Mahomes would be an easy prop to beat. Just minutes into the second quarter, he’s almost there.

3:34 p.m. ET — Bengals on the Board

It didn’t end in a touchdown, but give the young Bengals credit for following the Chiefs’ touchdown with a field goal to make it 7–3. Joe Burrow got the drive started with an 8-yard scramble and hit a couple of clutch third-down conversions. The play that set up Evan McPherson’s field goal was a 23-yard run from Joe Mixon.

That’s good news for me! I’ve got Mixon on a prop to rush for over 57.5 yards. He’s at 30 right now, so halfway there.

Bad news for the Bengals: Tight end C.J. Uzomah has been carted off. The Bengals still have plenty of weapons, but that’s a loss.

3:19 p.m. ET — That Was Easy 

After the Bengals went three-and-out to start the game, Kansas City started its first drive at its own 15 … and proceeded to methodically march down the field and hit paydirt. After a balanced attack got them a first-and-goal at the 10, Patrick Mahomes rolled to his right and hit Tyreek Hill in the back of the end zone for the score.

But the real star of the drive might have been RB Jerick McKinnon. The six year vet has steadily become a more valuable player in this potent Chiefs offense. McKinnon accounted for 38 scrimmage yards on the drive.

Meanwhile, Hill paid off +675 to score the first touchdown of the game.

2:30 p.m. ET — Check Out These Player Props Ahead of Kickoff

When the Chiefs and Bengals played in Week 17, Kansas City backup receiver Demarcus Robinson scored the first touchdown of the game. Cincinnati went on to win that game, but the real winners were those bettors prescient enough to bet that Robinson would score the first touchdown of the game. Robinson only scored three touchdowns all season, for crying out loud.

Even with that recent history, 12 players have better odds of scoring the first touchdown of the game when these teams do battle Sunday in the AFC title game. At SI Sportsbook, Robinson scoring the first touchdown today would pay +2500. He’s +370 to score an anytime TD.

Check out all the Bengals-Chiefs player props at SI Sportsbook

As far as some of the bigger names playing in this game, SI Betting’s crew likes most of them to hit their totals. We made our prop picks for both conference championship games earlier this week, and multiple analysts picked both Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes to top their totals for passing yards and TD passes. They also liked Ja’Marr Chase and Travis Kelce to beat their numbers.

Here are some of the props featured on SI Sportsbook for today’s game:

• Patrick Mahomes over 293.5 passing yards (-125)

• Joe Burrow over 291.5 passing yards (-120)

• Ja’Marr Chase over 83.5 receiving yards (-120)

• Travis Kelce over 77.5 passing yards (-118)

• Joe Mixon over 57.5 rushing yards (-125)

• Clyde Edwards-Helaire over 37.5 rushing yards (-125)

There’s still some time before kickoff… who ya got?

2:15 p.m. ET — Super Bowl LVI Is On The Line

How in the world can Sunday’s AFC championship game between the Bengals and Chiefs (3 p.m. ET., Arrowhead Stadium, CBS) possibly match the excitement of last week’s divisional playoffs? Turning up the pressure is a good start. And with a trip to Super Bowl LVI on the line, we’ve got pressure.

For the Bengals, a win would send Cincinnati to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season. It’s hard to believe the last time the Bengals reached an AFC title game, their quarterback was Boomer Esiason. For the record, Esiason passed for a paltry 94 yards in that game, a 21–10 win over the Bills (Ickey Woods rushed for 102 yards and two TDs).

For the Chiefs, a win would send them to the big game for the third straight year. This is the fourth straight year the Chiefs are hosting the AFC title game, an NFL record. If not for an overtime loss to the Patriots three years ago, Kansas City would be gunning for its fourth Super Bowl appearance in a row.

The Chiefs are a 7.5-point favorite in SI Sportsbook, which set the over/under at 54.5. Of course, these teams breezed past that total in their Week 17 matchup, a 34–31 Bengals victory in which Joe Burrow passed for 446 yards and four TDs. Sensational rookie WR Ja’Marr Chase accounted for 266 yards and three scores. On the other side, you’ve got Super Bowl LIV MVP Patrick Mahomes, who accounted for 447 yards of total offense and four touchdowns in last week’s OT thriller over Buffalo.

The Bengals have scored at least 31 points in seven games this season. The Chiefs have hit that number 11 times—including 42 points in back-to-back playoff wins.

In other words, buckle up.

We will be live-blogging the AFC title game right here, and based on those past performances, it looks like the updates will be coming at a frenetic pace!

More NFL Coverage:
• Tom Brady, In His Own Words
• Von Miller Is Dreaming Another Dream
• How the Homegrown 49ers Were Assembled
• A Very Garoppolo Sunday, the Sad (Almost) Reality of the Post-Brady Bucs

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Craig Ellenport
CRAIG ELLENPORT

Craig Ellenport is Sports Illustrated's senior fantasy editor. 

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