The Kansas City Chiefs hold a 20-13 lead over the Cincinnati Bengals in the third quarter of the AFC Championship game as they look to join the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they could be in the lead but they missed an early opportunity to score the first touchdown.
Having forced the Bengals to punt it away on their opening drive, the Chiefs then quickly moved the ball down the field after a pair of 16-yard gains from Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco.
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Mahomes then took a deep shot to the end zone for Kadarius Toney, who made a spectacular grab but was unable to control the ball as he went to the ground in an early close call for the Cincinnati defense.
Kansas City unsuccessfully challenged the call, settling for a Harrison Butker field goal to take an early 3-0 lead after its first drive of the game.
The Chiefs once again almost had their first touchdown of the night when Pacheco burst through for another explosive run, only to have the play called back for holding.
With that touchdown wiped off the board and Kansas City picking up another penalty, the Chiefs would turn to Butker again to add a field goal and make it 6-0.
While Kansas City’s execution on offense may have been a source of frustration, the defense was doing a brilliant job to pressure Bengals quarterback Burrow.
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Still, the 26-year-old has consistently proven himself capable of being patient and selective in his passes and was able to carefully orchestrate Cincinnati’s first sustained drive of the game.
It almost ended in a Hayden Hurst touchdown but the Bengals tight end couldn’t haul it in, with the play broken up by Chiefs safety Justin Reid.
It left Cincinnati calling on kicker Evan McPherson, who stepped up to slot the field goal.
It would take some magic from Mahomes and top target Travis Kelce to bring up the first touchdown of the night, seeing the Chiefs take a 13-3 lead.
McPherson added another field goal before the half to make it 13-6.
That scoreline soon became 13-13 early in the second half, as Bengals WR Tee Higgins leapt high to haul in a pass from Burrow to score the team’s first touchdown of the evening.
However, the Chiefs took back the lead when Mahomes lasered a ball to WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
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