CNN
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The Kansas City Chiefs advance to Super Bowl LVII with a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Patrick Mahomes went back and forth to lead the team to victory after suffering a high ankle sprain last week in the divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kansas City took a 6-0 lead after two field goals. Before halftime, Mahomes found his favorite target — tight end Travis Kelce — for a touchdown for a 13-3 lead. Kells was listed as questionable for the game due to a back injury.
Just before halftime, the Bengals drove down the field and kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 13-6.
On the Bengals’ first offensive possession of the second half, quarterback Joe Burrow hit wide receiver Dee Higgins for a 27-yard touchdown to tie the game at 13. However, a clearly rattled Mahomes and the Chiefs responded with a laser touchdown throw. Marquez Valdes-Scantling takes the lead again.
The Chiefs’ defense shut down the high-powered Bengals offense until the first play of the fourth quarter.
On fourth down, Burrow threw the ball down the field and found Jammer Chase for a 35-yard strike to move Cincinnati deep into Kansas City territory. Two plays later, Bengals running back Samaje Perine scored a 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game again.
The Chiefs gave Burrow the ball back with less than a minute to go to tie the game at 20. Chiefs returner Sky Moore set up the offense with good field position on a Bengals punt 29 yards. On third down, Mahomes fumbled and as he went out of bounds, Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossey pushed him and was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.
Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker kicked a 45-yard field goal to send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons.
the previous day, The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers31-7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to advance to the championship game for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
The Eagles scored on their first possession and never looked back in a 49-run rout.
Eagles linebacker Hassan Reddick suffered a right elbow injury in the first quarter after a hit, and the 49ers were briefly sidelined. Josh Johnson, the fourth-string quarterback for San Francisco, filled in for Birdie until the third quarter before being forced out of the game with a concussion.
Playing on an injured elbow, Purdy re-entered the game, but the 49ers offense struggled to tally any points.
Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia run-game ran all over the 49ers defense, notching 148 rushing yards and scoring four touchdowns on the ground. With his rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, Hurts (15) passed Cameron Newton (14) for the most rushing touchdowns in a season by a QB in NFL history, including the playoffs. According to NFL Research.
