CNN —
The Kansas City Chiefs advance to Super Bowl LVII after a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
After suffering a serious sprained ankle in the Chiefs’ Divisional Round win against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, Patrick Mahomes led the team to victory in a back-and-forth game.
Kansas City went 6-0 after two field goals, and before halftime Mahomes found his favorite target – tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown to take a 13-3 lead. Kelce was ruled questionable to get into the game due to a back injury.
Just before halftime, the Bengals drove across the field and scored a field goal to reduce the lead to 13-6.
On the Bengals’ first offensive possession of the second half, quarterback Joe Burrow found wide receiver Tee Higgins for a 27-yard touchdown to end the game at 13. A clearly limping Mahomes and the Chiefs responded with a laser touchdown throw, but Marquez Valdes-Scantling took the lead again.
The Chiefs’ defensive unit shut down the high-profile Bengals offense through the first game of the fourth quarter.
On the fourth down, Burrow heaved the ball up the field and found Ja’Marr Chase for a 35-yard swing to put Cincinnati deep in Kansas City territory. Two games later, the Bengals scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, running back Samaje Perine to tie the game again.
The Chiefs sacked Burrow in third to hand the ball back to them with less than a minute left and a 20-tie. Chiefs returnee Skyy Moore returned the Bengals’ punt 29 yards to build offense with good field position. In third, Mahomes faltered, and when he went over the limit, Bengal’s defensive end, Joseph Ossai, shoved him and was called out for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty that put the Chiefs within range of the field goal.
Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker knocked down the 45-yard field goal, sending the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons.
Earlier in the day, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, advancing to a championship game for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
The Eagles scored on their first possession and didn’t look back in the 49ers’ loss.
The 49ers were temporarily without rookie-starting quarterback Brock Purdy after he sustained a right elbow injury in the first quarter in a hit by Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick that forced a fumble. Josh Johnson, who is the fourth string quarterback for San Francisco, filled out Purdy through the third quarter before being ruled out of the game with a concussion.
Playing on the injured elbow, Purdy re-entered the game, but the 49ers’ offense struggled to pick up points.
Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia run game ran all over the 49ers’ defense, raking in 148 rushing yards and scoring all four touchdowns on the ground. With his rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter, Hurts (15) passed Cameron Newton (14) for most rushing touchdowns in a single season by a QB in NFL history, including playoffs. according to NFL Research.