In just his second NFL season, Joe Burrow has led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl. Pause for a moment. Let that sink in.
Burrow’s Bengals defeated Mahomes’ Chiefs 27-24 in overtime in a roaring Arrowhead Stadium to win the AFC Championship. They’ll travel to LA to face either the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams in two weeks.
Shocked? We are, too.
Mahomes threw two interceptions, one of them during his first possession in overtime that led to Evan McPherson’s game-winning field goal.
Burrow also threw a pick, but he capitalized on every mistake Kansas City made on Sunday.
Down 21-3 at one point, Cincinnati crawled out of the deficit little by little. In the second half, Mahomes’ high-powered offense came to a screeching halt, Burrow found his stride, and the Bengals punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.
It’s still taking a little while to sink in.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1487932641298956290
Bengals QB Joe Burrow: "We've been a second half team all year... Our defense really stepped up in the second half."
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) January 30, 2022
Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow defeated Patrick Mahomes to win first AFC Championship
The most surprising stat of the game was quarterback sacks: Burrow got sacked once while Mahomes got sacked four times.
Had Mahomes been as dominant as he was in the Divisional Round against the Bills, Cincinnati likely would never have had a chance to come back.
Whereas Mahomes made a handful of questionable decisions throughout the game, Burrow played the smarter and cleaner game, and he deserved the win. The whole team did.
Burrow oozed nothing but confidence and swagger when he landed in Kansas City, and he did what only Tom Brady has done before: defeat Mahomes in the postseason.
Enjoy the cigars, Joe. Soak it in. We’ve said it from the beginning: this is Cincy’s year.