Eagles, Chiefs Punch Super Bowl Tickets

The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs won their conference championship games and will meet up in Super Bowl 57 in Arizona in two weeks. 

The Eagles dismantled the visiting San Francisco 49ers, 31-7 in the NFC title game while the Chiefs won a 23-20 thriller at home against the Cincinnati Bengals, many of whom had the audacity to call Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium . . . "Burrow"head Stadium as they had beaten the Chiefs three straight times heading into the AFC Championship game on Sunday. 

 

The Eagles celebrate their big win.

PHILADELPHIA 31, SAN FRANCISCO 7 - The Eagles rolled in this game, taking a 21-7 lead at halftime as the 49ers lost starting quarterback Brock Purdy to an elbow injury, which forced Josh Johnson, their fourth QB on the roster, into the game. The Eagles took full advantage and scored 24 unanswered points to get the win. Philadelphia rushed for 148 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns, with two of them by Miles Sanders along with Boston Scott and QB Jalen Hurts also scoring on runs. The lone 49ers TD came on a 23-yard scoring run by running back Christian McCaffrey. 

 

The Eagles defense dominated in this game as the 49ers were limited to eleven first downs and 164 total yards of offense. In addition, the Philly defense forced three turnovers (all fumble recoveries) and had three sacks. San Francisco also committed eleven penalties in the loss. 

KANSAS CITY 23, CINCINNATI 20 - The Chiefs are going back to their third Super Bowl in the last four years as they won at home on a 45-yard field goal by Harrison Butker with three seconds remaining in the game. It was the third field goal in the game for Butker, who drilled two first quarter kicks for a 6-0 lead. 

Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes was limping around noticeably in the second half, but gutted it out and passed for two touchdowns along with 326 passing yards and also scrambled to get his team into the field position for the game winning kick after a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty was added onto his run. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had seven catches for 78 yards and a 14-yard TD reception for a 13-3 lead late in the second quarter. Kansas City took a 13-6 lead into the half. 

Chiefs stars Travis Kelce (left) and Patrick Mahomes raise the AFC championship trophy. 

 

The Bengals rallied back twice in the second half as QB Joe Burrow (270 passing yards, one TD and two interceptions) connected with wide receiver Tee Higgins for a 27-yard scoring pass to make it 13-13 with 9:54 left in the third quarter. The Chiefs came right back when Mahomes threw a 19-yard TD pass to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling with 4:15 remaining in the quarter for a 20-13 lead. 

 

In the final quarter, Cincinnati tied the game at 20-20 on a two-yard scoring run by Samaje Perine with 13:30 left to play. Both teams had turnovers on ensuing drives in the fourth quarter and the Chiefs defense, which recorded five QB sacks, forced a punt in the final two minutes which led to their drive for the game winning field goal.