CHIEFS, EAGLES HEAD FOR ARIZONA
Super Bowl 57 will have teams that have won the big one in last five years
Patrick Mahomes finally got the best of Joe Burrow.
All he needed was a little shove. Harrison Butker made a 45-yard field goal with 3 seconds left — after Cincinnati’s Joseph Ossai was flagged for a 15-yard penalty for shoving Mahomes after he was out of bounds — and the Chiefs beat the Bengals 23-20 in the AFC championship game to make it back to the Super Bowl.
Kansas City will face the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Ariz.
The Chiefs have been making deep postseason runs on a regular basis ever since Mahomes came to town as the franchise quarterback.
This was their fifth straight trip to the AFC title game and will be their third Super Bowl appearance in that span. They beat the 49ers for the NFL title in the 2019 season, but lost to the Bucs the following season.
The Eagles clobbered the Niners 31-7 in the NFC title game earlier Sunday. They’ve looked dominant in the playoffs so far, also beating the Giants 38-7 in the divisional round.
Philadelphia is back in the Super Bowl five years after beating the Patriots 41-33 on Feb. 4, 2018.
Now a mostly new generation of Eagles — led by coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts — will come to Arizona to try to win another title.
The Chiefs-Bengals game looked as if it was going to overtime before Ossai’s ill-advised play. Mahomes — who was playing on a badly sprained ankle — was running to get a first down in the final seconds as Ossai desperately tried to track him down.
Mahomes was out of bounds when Ossai gave him a shove, sending both players tumbling to the turf. The ensuing 15-yard penalty was enough to push Butker into fieldgoal range and the kick split the uprights.
A distraught Ossai sat on the bench with his head in his hands, well after the game was over.
The Bengals and Chiefs were playing for the fourth time in less than 400 days and Cincinnati had won the previous three meetings — all by three points. This one was decided by a field goal, too, and all Burrow could do was watch.
The Bengals lost to the Rams in last year’s Super Bowl and they just missed another chance at returning to the title game.
Oddsmakers thought fans were in for some close conference championship games.
They’ll have to settle for a 50 percent success rate.
The NFC title game was a blowout. Niners rookie quarterback Brock Purdy was injured in the first quarter when Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick drilled his right arm on a play that was ruled a fumble. The Eagles recovered that fumble and the injury proved to be a game-changer.
With Purdy hurt, San Francisco turned to 36-year-old journeyman Josh Johnson, who couldn’t do much before eventually leaving with a concussion. Purdy came back into the game, but could barely throw, and the Eagles cruised to the win.
Here’s a few things to know about the upcoming Super Bowl:
Kelce bowl
This year’s Super Bowl will feature a set of brothers, one on each team.
Travis Kelce is one of the NFL’s top tight ends for the Chiefs. Jason Kelce is the veteran starting center for the Eagles.
“Officially done being a Chiefs fan this season!!” Jason Kelce tweeted immediately after the Chiefs won.
Rihanna at halftime
Rihanna will take center stage as the headline act for this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
With sales of more than 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna ranks as one of the best-selling female artists ever. Her most recent album was 2016’s “Anti.” Rihanna last performed publicly at the Grammy Awards in 2018.
The singer said she turned down a similar opportunity for the 2019 Super Bowl that was ultimately headlined by Maroon 5. At the time, many artists voiced support for Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who protested police brutality against Black people and minorities by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
Country music star Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem, while R&B legend Babyface will perform “America the Beautiful.”