Bengals roar back from 18 points down to stun Chiefs and reach Super Bowl

Evan McPherson kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime after Joe Burrow kept his cool while leading a furious second-half comeback to get the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years with a 27-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game on Sunday.

The Bengals erased an 18-point deficit tying an AFC title game record to take a late 24-21 lead. But Harrison Butker’s 44-yard field goal as time expired in regulation sent it to overtime a week after his 49-yarder on the final play of regulation did the same against Buffalo.

One week after Buffalo’s Josh Allen called tails and it came up heads for the overtime coin toss giving Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs the ball, Cincinnati backup quarterback Brandon Allen called heads and the coin came up tails. The Chiefs opened overtime again with the ball, but Vonn Bell intercepted Mahomes on the third play, and Burrow and the Bengals took over.

And now they’re heading to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989.

The Bengals will play the winner of the NFC championship between San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on 13 February. Mahomes and the Chiefs will be left to lament blowing a chance at a third straight Super Bowl appearance.