Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, Marques Valdes-Scantling, and Travis Kelce balled out in the Chiefs 23-20 AFC Championship Game Win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was a close game between two AFC heavyweights, but the Chiefs ultimately came out on top with a 45-yard game-winning field goal by Harrison Butker.
BUTKER GIVES THE @CHIEFS THE LEAD. #CINvsKC pic.twitter.com/VOeIUlSRwI
— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
What Patrick Mahomes did in the 2023 AFC Championship will be remembered for the rest of time as the sixth-year QB threw for 326 yards and two touchdown passes while dealing with a high ankle sprain. Mahomes was just absolutely amazing in this one. Besides dealing with the injury, Mahomes also lost three of his top four wideouts during the game as Juju Smith-Schuster, Kadarius Toney, and Mecole Hardman all had to leave the contest after suffering injuries.
With that said, Marques Valdes-Scantling, a.k.a. MVS, stepped up tremendously in the absence of his fellow wideouts as he had six receptions for 116 yards and a score.
Also stepping up significantly, as always, was superstar tight end Travis Kelce, who caught seven passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. Like Mahomes, Kelce was injured during the game as he suffered a back injury in practice on Friday.
As for the Chiefs defense, it was an all-around elite performance from the group, as they sacked Joe Burrow five times and picked him off twice. Superstar defensive lineman Chris Jones had a terrific showing in this one, finishing with two sacks and three tackles for loss.
It was an impressive game for the Chiefs secondary as multiple rookies starred for KC in this one as first-round pick Trent McDuffie, second-round pick Bryan Cook, and seventh-round pick Jaylen Watson were terrific in the game.
Speaking of Watson, the youngster had an interception along with fifth-year pro-Joshua Williams, who picked off Burrow after a tremendous job by Cook of tipping the ball into the air. Something of note, these youngsters stepped up after the team’s number one CB, L’Jarius Sneed suffered an injury at the start of the game.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo put on an absolute masterpiece against Cincy and will look to come up with another excellent game plan to shut down the elite offense of the Eagles.
As for Cincy, their offense was able to stay in the game but couldn’t fully shine in this one as the Chiefs defense outplayed and outcoached them.
As for their defense, this unit for the Bengals was much better than the offensive unit of the team, but Butker’s game-winning kick came just after second-year pass rusher Joseph Ossai shoved Mahomes while he was out of bounds and thus giving the Chiefs fifteen extra yards for Butker to have an opportunity to win the game.
Mahomes gives it his all for the first down!
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/fM5ertlhHi pic.twitter.com/z78Phcfkyp— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
The Chiefs will now get ready to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles during Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.
Let us know what you think about the Chiefs eliminating the Bengals and advancing to the Super Bowl by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
