Just like that we are nearing the finish line of the 2022-23 NFL season. With two highly anticipated championship games, one turned out disappointing and the other was good, but deprived of being great by a big penalty in the final moments. After the dust settled, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles were the final two teams left standing and will be meeting in Glendale, Arizona on February 12th.
Late Hit Moves Chiefs into Field Goal Range and Super Bowl Return
For the final ten minutes, this game felt like an overtime hockey game where the next team to score would win the game. The tension was high and every time the Cincinnati Bengals or Kansas City offenses started moving down field, the opposing defenses would make a play or series of plays to sway momentum the other way.
Unfortunately for Cincinnati and non-Kansas City fans, this game provided game ending drama, but not of the sort that football fans hope for. With 17 seconds remaining in the game and the Chiefs attempting a 3rd & 4 from the Cincinnati 47 yard line, Patrick Mahomes scrambled to the right side of the field for five yards before heading out of bounds. With Bengals defenders hunting him down, Joseph Ossai gave Mahomes a shove to the ground as he was already out of bounds, forcing the referees to throw a penalty flag for a late hit and additional 15 yards. What would’ve been an extremely long distance field goal, turned into a 45 yard field goal for Harrison Butler which lifted Kansas City to a 23-20 win.
The win not only sends Kansas City to Super Bowl LVII, but gives Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs their first victory over the Bengals since Joe Burrow entered the league. After a week that included Bengals players referring to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead”, Kansas City put an end to that trash talk in the best way possible.
Not the best game for either quarterback, Patrick Mahomes did outduel Burrow in this game. Mahomes threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns. The one play he would’ve wanted back was a third down fumble loss in which the ball slipped out of his hands as he was about to attempt a pass.
Burrow made plenty of big throws of his own, especially a couple of big third down throws that kept the Bengals in the game, but he also threw two interceptions. To go along with the two picks, Burrow finished with 270 yards passing and one touchdown.
The true MVP of the AFC Championship was Chris Jones, the leader of the Kansas City defensive line. The Chiefs put pressure on Burrow from the opening whistle, but no player more so than Jones. The star defensive tackle showed why he’s one of the few interior defensive linemen that can be an absolute game wrecker. Jones provided two of the five Chiefs sacks, none bigger than one on a 3rd & 8 with just 44 seconds remaining in the game to end any hopes of a Bengals game winning scoring drive. Jones would also finish with a game high three tackles for loss.
An unsung hero for Kansas City was wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who caught six passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. With in game injuries to Mecole Hartman, Kadarius Toney, and JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Kansas City receiving core was basically limited to Valdes-Scantling, Travis Kelce, Sky Moore, and their running backs. Valdes-Scantling stepped up in the moment by crossing the receiving yard century mark for just the second time this entire season.
The Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes Chiefs will now play in their third Super Bowl in four years where they will face a Philadelphia Eagles team that doesn’t seem to have any glaring weaknesses. With two weeks to recover, Kansas City will be hopeful that they can get some health back with their receivers. If not, it may take another gutsy and magic performance by Patrick Mahomes to get his second Super Bowl ring.
Eagles Leave No Doubt, Fly Past San Francisco
The Philadelphia Eagles validated themselves as the strongest team in the NFC after a dominant 31-7 over the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles will now have an opportunity to prove they are the strongest team in the entire NFL at Super Bowl LVII, Philadelphia’s first Super Bowl since 2018 when they defeated the New England Patriots in Minneapolis.
All season the San Francisco 49ers were able to overcome injuries at the quarterback position. First, Trey Lance was injured for the remainder of the season and San Francisco was able to call upon previous starter, Jimmy Garoppolo. Then Garoppolo was injured and the Niners played even better behind the play of Brock Purdy, a rookie who was selected with the final pick of the NFL Draft. Sunday’s NFC Championship ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back as Purdy exited the game early after injuring his throwing his elbow. Josh Johnson came in for Purdy and struggled to continue that level of success until he too was injured, forcing an injured Purdy to return to the field despite his struggle to throw.
The loss of a full strength Purdy no doubt made this game a much more uphill battle for San Francisco, but with the way the Philadelphia defense played, it likely wouldn’t have mattered which quarterback was taking snaps. The Eagles defense was flying all over the field, holding the Niners multi-weaponed offense to just 164 yards of total offense and only truly breaking on one second quarter Christian McCaffrey 23 yard touchdown run. The Eagles also forced three turnovers which forced the Niners defense to return to the field after minimal breaks.
Thanks to the defense, the Eagles offense didn’t have to provide the flashiest of games. Philadelphia only finished with 269 total yards of offense themselves in what was a very physical game in the trenches as many expected, but the Niners defense helped the Eagles with a multitude of penalties, including a few personal fouls. San Francisco was penalized 11 times for 81 yards over the entirety of the game. Philadelphia was the far more disciplined team.
The Eagles did succeed on the ground, rushing for 148 of their 269 yards and finding the end zone four times with three separate rushers. Philadelphia also continued their fourth down conversion success by earning first downs on all three attempts.
As great as the Eagles have been in their two playoff games, Kansas City should pose a much more difficult challenge than the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers. The Philadelphia defense will go from facing Daniel Jones and a combination of Josh Johnson and an injured Brock Purdy to playing against Patrick Mahomes, who is likely this season’s MVP and will be playing in his third Super Bowl. This Philadelphia team is loaded and balanced, but it may just take a Jalen Hurts performance that shows why he was an MVP favorite prior to his late season injury.
Looking Ahead to Super Bowl LVII
Kansas City vs Philadelphia will be the first time since 2018 when Philadelphia defeated New England, that the top seed in each conference will meet in the Super Bowl. The last time the Chiefs and Eagles played was a regular season game last year in which Kansas City won a road game against Philadelphia, 42-30.
With two weeks before the big game, there will be plenty of time to dissect the matchup, but Super Bowl LVII does look primed to be a great game. It will feature the two likely favorites for MVP in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. This will also be the “Kelce Bowl” with both Travis and Jason Kelce aiming for their second titles. Maybe the biggest storyline is that Andy Reid will be facing an Eagles organization where he was head coach for 14 years and accrued 130 wins, making one Super Bowl before being fired and eventually taking over the same job for the Chiefs.
Now we wait for the big game in Arizona. This Super Bowl matchup can’t come soon enough.