Patrick Mahomes finally got the best out of Joe Burrow.
He just needed a little nudge.
Harrison Butker scored a 45-yard field goal with 3 seconds left – after Cincinnati’s Joseph Ossai was tagged for a 15-yard penalty for pushing Mahomes after going out of bounds – and the Chiefs beat the Bengals 23-20 in the AFC championship game to make it back to the Super Bowl.
Kansas City meets the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on February 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
The Eagles opened as a 1 1/2 point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
There’s no shortage of storylines as Kansas City coach Andy Reid takes on his old team — whom he led to Super Bowl 39 — in a game that also featured the first black quarterback duel in the Super Bowl, featuring Mahomes and Jalen Hurts Philly is.
In addition, a brother-vs-brother showdown ensues between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia center Jason Kelce.
” Officially done being a Chiefs fan this season!! ‘ Jason Kelce tweeted immediately after the Chiefs’ win.
Ever since Mahomes came to town as a franchise quarterback, the Chiefs have been consistently hitting deep postseason runs.
This was her fifth straight trip to the AFC title game and will be her third Super Bowl appearance in that span. They beat the 49ers for the NFL title in the 2019 season but lost to the Bucs the following season.
The Eagles beat the Niners 31-7 in the NFC title game early Sunday. They’ve looked dominant in the playoffs so far, beating the New York Giants 38-7 in the divisional round.
Philadelphia is back in the Super Bowl five years after beating the New England Patriots 41-33 on February 4, 2018.
Now a mostly new generation of Eagles — led by coaches Nick Sirianni and Hurts — will come to Arizona to try and win another title.
The game between the Chiefs and the Bengals looked set to go into overtime ahead of Ossai’s unwise play. Mahomes – playing on a badly sprained ankle – was racing towards a first down in the final seconds as Ossai desperately tried to track him down.
Mahomes was out when Ossai gave him a shove and both players fell onto the pitch. The ensuing 15-yard penalty was enough to push Butker within field goal range, and the kick split the posts.
A distraught Ossai sat on the bench with his head in his hands long after the game was over.
The Bengals and Chiefs were playing for the fourth time in less than 400 days and Cincinnati had won their last three games – all by three points. That too was decided by a field goal and all Burrow could do was watch.
The Bengals lost to the Rams in last year’s Super Bowl and just missed another chance to return to the title game.
NO DRAMA IN NFC
Oddsmakers thought fans were in for some close conference championship games.
You’ll have to settle for a 50% success rate.
The NFC title game was a blowout. Niners rookie quarterback Brock Purdy was injured in the first quarter when Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick drilled his right arm in a play ruled a fumble. The Eagles recovered from that fumble and the injury proved to be a turning point.
With Purdy injured, San Francisco turned to journeyman Josh Johnson, 36, who couldn’t do much before eventually leaving with a concussion. Purdy got back in the game but could barely throw, and the Eagles drove to the win.
The 49ers struggled with quarterback injuries all season, losing Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo before turning to Purdy, a seventh-round draft pick from Iowa State. Purdy entered the starting role in December and won his first seven games before Sunday’s injury.
Here are a few things you should know about the upcoming Super Bowl:
WHAT IS THE UPCOMING SCHEDULE?
FEB. 5
Pro Bowl flag football game, 3 p.m. EST, ABC/ESPN
FEB. 12
Super Bowl LVII, Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 6:30 p.m. EST, Fox
RIHANNA AT HALFTIME
Rihanna will take center stage as she headlines this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
With more than 250 million records sold worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Her last album was Anti in 2016. Rihanna last appeared in public at the Grammy Awards in 2018.
The singer said she turned down a similar opportunity for the 2019 Super Bowl, which was eventually officiated by Maroon 5. Back then, many artists expressed their support for Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who protested police brutality against blacks and minorities by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
Country star Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem while R&B legend Babyface will perform “America the Beautiful.”
PRO BOWL TRANSFORMATION
The Pro Bowl gets a major makeover this year after the NFL abolished its full-contact All-Star game and replaced it with weeklong skill contests and a flag football game.
The Flag Football Contest takes place in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium on February 5, a week before the Super Bowl.
The Pro Bowl debuted in Los Angeles in January 1951 and stayed there for 21 seasons before the game was moved to different cities from 1972 to 1980. Hawaii hosted from 1980 to 2009, and the game has had multiple home turfs over the years, including Miami, Phoenix, Orlando and Las Vegas.
“The game was kind of silly, I think,” Ryan Ramczyk, the Saints’ two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman, said in September when the news broke. “The boys weren’t out there playing real football. Hopefully there will be a lot of interaction with the fans and the guys will get a chance to go out and show their skills. I could imagine that being a good change.”
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AP Entertainment writers Jake Coyle and Jonathan Landrum Jr. and AP Pro Football writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this story.
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