Patrick Mahomes was forced to rely on his badly sprained right ankle rather than his strong right arm when the Kansas City Chiefs were desperately driving with a chance to win the AFC championship.
The All-Pro quarterback, missing three wide receivers because of injuries and battered himself, took off on a third-down play near midfield in another gut-check game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mahomes strained to reach the mark he needed and was headed out of bounds when he felt the hands of Joseph Ossai send him sprawling into the bench.
The mad dash, coupled with a 15-yard penalty for a late hit, was all the Chiefs needed.
Harrison Butker strode confidently onto the field, sent a 45-yard kick through cold, gusting wind and over the crossbar with 3 seconds to go and put the Chiefs back in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years with a 23-20 victory.
“I don’t think we have any cigars,” Mahomes said with a smile, “but we’ll be ready to go in the Super Bowl.”
It was vindication for the AFC West champions, who had lost three straight to their newfound nemeses, including a three-point overtime loss in last year’s conference title game. All of those defeats were by three points.
Now the Chiefs are headed back to the big game.
Awaiting them is coach Andy Reid’s old team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in the first matchup of Black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl with Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. It also will feature a brother-against-brother showdown between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Eagles center Jason Kelce.
“I’ve watched them all year,” Mahomes said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for us. But I’m going to celebrate this first.”
Mahomes, who hurt his ankle against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional round, threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, even though he was missing three wide receivers because of injuries by the end.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the way with 116 yards and a touchdown, while tight end Travis Kelce — bad back and all — had seven catches for 78 yards and a score.
“It’s a tough bunch. My heart goes out to them, man, they’re tough guys,” Reid said. “They worked so hard this week. Pat and Kelce were both banged up a little bit. They pushed through and great things happened.”
The Chiefs also shut the mouths of the Bengals, some of whom had taken to calling Kansas City’s home stadium “Burrowhead” for quarterback Joe Burrow, who never had lost to the Chiefs. Even Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval started in on the trash talk.
“I’ve got some wise words for that Cincinnati mayor,” Kelce said. “Know your role and shut your mouth, you jabroni!”
Burrow, who was sacked five times and was wobbly by the end, finished with 270 passing yards to go with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Bengals. Tee Higgins had six catches for 83 yards and the score.
“We’re not going to make it about one play,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of the late hit. “There was plenty of plays we left on the field today that could have put us in a better position. The character of this football team, that’s never going to change. We’ve got the right people in the locker room, the right men leading this team and this organization.
“I know that this is a team that our city and our fan base can be proud of. They represent themselves the right way, and we’re going to fight, scratch and claw to be back in this position next year.”
The Chiefs were able to do early what the Buffalo Bills could not in last week’s divisional round: They ran roughshod over an ailing Bengals offensive line missing two starters because of injuries with another bothered by a sore knee.
Burrow was sacked three times in the first quarter and the Bengals offense did not gain a single yard.
Mahomes looked just fine on his sore ankle in leading the Chiefs to a field goal on their opening possession. And when they got the ball back, Mahomes did it again, but only after Kadarius Toney failed to pull in a nifty throw for a would-be touchdown — the incompletion was upheld upon review.
The Bengals finally moved the ball in the second quarter, but they also had to settle for Evan McPherson’s chip-shot field goal.
So much for two of the league’s highest-scoring offenses.
The Chiefs finally reached the end zone late in the second quarter when Mahomes hit Kelce, loosely covered by Jessie Bates III, with a fourth-down throw for the touchdown. The Bengals drove 90 yards in the closing minutes of the half but added only a field goal to get within 13-6 at the break.
Turns out their offense was just hitting its stride — and another classic was brewing.
After the Chiefs went three-and-out to start the second half, Burrow led the Bengals downfield, bolting through a yawning hole in the defense for a third-down conversion before hitting Higgins from 27 yards out to knot the game at 13.
Mahomes, suddenly down three wide receivers and beginning to limp, gamely pressed on. He answered Burrow with a touchdown drive of his own, capped by a third-down throw to Valdes-Scantling to regain the lead.
The Chiefs had a chance to gain some breathing room later in the third quarter, but Mahomes lost control of the ball before throwing a pass and the Bengals pounced on the fumble. Six plays later — including an audacious fourth-down throw from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase — Samaje Perine ran into the end zone to tie it at 20.
Burrow gave the Chiefs a chance when his deep throw to Higgins on third down was batted into the air and picked by rookie cornerback Josh Williams. Mahomes managed to move the Chiefs past midfield, but two runs went nowhere and his third-down throw to Jerick McKinnon was well short, forcing them to punt in Bengals territory.
The Chiefs defense held, though, getting a crucial sack from Chris Jones to force a punt with 39 seconds left, and shaky return man Skyy Moore broke free for 29 yards on the return. That gave Mahomes and the offense one more try.
“It was a tough road to get here. To win 10 in a row, it was a pretty incredible feat,” Taylor said. “We came up short. We wanted to play longer than that, but really proud of these guys.”
Strange situation
The Chiefs got a second chance on third down early in the fourth quarter when referee Ron Torbert said the game clock and play clock would begin on his whistle. The only problem was the play came after an incompletion, so the game clock should not have started.
The Bengals stopped the Chiefs, but Torbert ruled the play didn’t count because of the clock goof — and the Chiefs wound up getting a first down on Eli Apple’s defensive holding penalty. The Chiefs eventually punted anyway.
Injuries
Bengals: WR Tyler Boyd left with a quad injury early in the second half.
Chiefs: Lost CB L’Jarius Sneed (concussion), LB Willie Gay Jr. (shoulder) and WRs Toney (ankle), Mecole Hardman (pelvis) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee).
Up next
The Chiefs are headed to their third Super Bowl in four seasons. They ended a 50-year championship drought when they rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers in February 2020, then lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the following year.
