The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs gave fans four games that were all decided on last-second plays, a feat previously unimaginable. Eight teams started the weekend in competition for a shot at the Championship, but only four emerged victorious. On January 30, the last remaining teams will face off for one final game to determine who will represent the AFC and NFC in Super Bowl LVI.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals found creative ways to win in the AFC Divisional round. The Bengals, who won their first playoff game in 31-years in the Wild Card round, triumphed over the number one seed Tennessee Titans in the Divisional round to win the first road playoff game in franchise history.
The Bengals won after intercepting a Titans pass late in the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 16. A 19-yard completion by QB Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase set up a 52-yard field goal try that cleared the uprights as the last seconds of the game ticked away. The Bengals have been an aggressive and resilient team all season and have taken their status as NFL underdogs as motivation to win big games in dramatic fashion.
No stranger to winning in dramatic fashion themselves, the Kansas City Chiefs leaned on quarterback Patrick Mahomes late in their contest against the Buffalo Bills in a game that will go down as one of the most thrilling two-minutes in football history and has already ignited the possibility of a quarterback rivalry to match that of the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning rivalry of the early 2010s.
Mahomes connected with tight end Travis Kelce in overtime for the game-winner, the 10th time in his five-year career that Mahomes has led the Chiefs to a victory.
The Chiefs and Bengals met each other in the 2021 regular season, a contest that Cincinnati triumphed over. Writing for CBS, John Breech had the most prescient prediction of any sports journalist this season.
“I’m not going to sit here and say that this game is going to be a preview of the AFC Championship, but I’m not going to not to say that,” Breech said the day before the Week 17 Chiefs-Bengals game. Breech even predicted the final score, 34-31 Bengals win.
Mahomes had an efficient day, throwing for 259-yards and two touchdowns, but Burrow significantly surpassed those numbers. His 415-yards passing was the highest number of yards the defense surrendered all season.
Following the Bengals victory over the Chiefs, Mahomes is reported to have told Burrow, “See ya in the playoffs,” a statement that might have seemed improbable to many fans on that January night but has now become prophetic.
The winner of Sunday’s AFC Championship contest will advance to Super Bowl LVI and face the victor of the NFC Conference Championship game. The Chiefs hope to return to the Super Bowl after losing to Tampa Bay last season, while the Bengals seek their first appearance since 1988. They lost that Super Bowl to the San Francisco 49ers, who will play against the LA Rams on Sunday.
