‘We Were Made For This Moment’: Bengals Defense Comes Up Huge, Punches Super Bowl Ticket

KANSAS CITY – The Bengals could feel their season slipping away. They had a great run but they no answer for Patrick Mahomes on this day through 29 minutes, 55 seconds.

Two plays after an Eli Apple defensive pass interference in the end zone, the Chiefs had first and goal at the Bengals 1, already leading 21-10. The Bengals had finally cracked the end zone on a 41-yard screen pass from Joe Burrow to Samaje Perine. But they left 65 seconds for Mahomes.

The Chiefs quarterback did what he did for most of the first half, effortlessly guided the Chiefs 80 yards in six plays. But instead of taking the three points for a 14-point halftime lead, Andy Reid and Mahomes decided to go for the jugular.

Mahomes passed horizontally to speedster Tyreek Hill had only Apple to beat but the Bengals defensive back redeemed himself, making a clutch tackle in open space to end the first half, keep the deficit at 11 and completely deflate the Arrowhead crowd that was poised to explode.

That play turned Sunday’s game on a dime. The Bengals were an entirely different defense and team after that point.

“That’s a big play that our defense made,” Burrow said. “I think that stretch right there
where we scored a touchdown then they drive down the field, in a two-minute situation and our defense prevented any points from being put on the board. I think that was really the turning point in the game.”

Just as Logan Wilson had done against Jacksonville on Sept. 30 against Trevor Lawrence to keep the deficit at 14-0 at the half, Apple’s play defined clutch.

It would be the first of many as the Bengals executed the biggest rally in franchise playoff history, erasing an 18-point hole on their way to a 27-24 overtime win against the Chiefs in the AFC Championship.

The master architect was defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. The Bengals defensive coordinator watched as his defense, which was 0-for-3 in the red zone to start the game, finished by not allowing Mahomes a touchdown the rest of the day, just a field goal at the end of regulation for the second time in four weeks.

What we saw for the second half was defensive brilliance of the ultimate order. The Bengals defensive flipped a switch on a quarterback that 18-of-21 for 220 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

The Bengals needed one of the best second-half defensive efforts in NFL postseason history against a quarterback that was tearing them apart on his home turf, ready to make his third straight Super Bowl.

The first big moment was the Bengals D holding Mahomes to one first down before their first punt of the game to start the third quarter. After a Bengals punt, the defense did it again, holding the Chiefs to one first down before a punt that led to Evan McPherson’s second field goal and a 21-13 deficit, and the Bengals were creeping back in.

Then it happened.

B.J. Hill broke through the Chiefs offensive line, got in the passing lane of an unsuspecting Mahomes and put the Bengals in business at the Chiefs 27. This had to be a touchdown. And it was. Burrow threw a perfect back shoulder pass to Ja’Marr Chase with 14 seconds to go in the third for the touchdown on third down. Clutch. Burrow to Trent Taylor for two. Clutch again. Tie game, 21-21.

“I don’t know if you ever want to get down 21-3,” Burrow admitted after. “I said it earlier in the year when we started making some of these comebacks, I never really feel like we’re out of it, but obviously 21-3 isn’t exactly the most exciting position to be in.”

“We always talk about good and bad, learning from our previous experiences,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “That happened against Jacksonville earlier this season. We were down by two scores, and they went for it. Our defense stopped them going into halftime at the goal line and prevented a three-score lead. We have that stuff in our memory bank. So, when our defense makes that play and we were down 11, just like when it was four or five weeks ago, we knew we were going to be able to win that game.”

The defense was rubbing off on the offense on this day. Just like it did on Jan. 2, when the offense came back from three 14-point deficits because the defense was stonewalling Mahomes.

Mahomes was starting to do things that resembled a confused quarterback. No better example than when he scrambled for over 10 seconds before being sacked by Trey Hendrickson. Think about that. Mahomes could have easily run for positive yards and likely a first down on third-and-6 and the Bengals 49. But instead, he was stubborn, not believing that the Bengals were denying him.

“There was a few misreads here and there,” Mahomes said. “There were guys that were open that I didn’t hit it at the right time, or I passed up on something shorter for something I wanted deeper down the field.

“When you’re playing a good team and you don’t hit what’s there and you try to get a little bit more than what’s necessary, it kind of bites you in the butt I guess you would say. It’s something that we were playing so well in the first half and in the second half we were just off a tick and sometimes that’s all it takes to lose a football game.”

Those seconds defined the Bengals tenacity in the second half. What followed for the rest of the fourth quarter and overtime made them AFC champions.

With the game tied, the Bengals drove to the Chiefs 34 before Shooter McPherson split the uprights from 52 yards out with 6:04 left in regulation.

But the best was yet to come.

With Mahomes seemingly having rediscovered his mojo, he moved the Chiefs down to the Bengals 15 at the two-minute warning. Travis Kelce grabbed a two-yard pass to make it first-and-goal at the 5 with 90 seconds left and the Bengals having burned their final timeout.

Things were getting bleaker by the second. That’s when they held Jerick McKinnon, who gashed the Bengals all day, to just a yard.

Then the pride of Cincinnati, by way of Moeller High School, came up with the two biggest sacks of the season on back-to-back snaps. On second down, Sam Hubbard got to Mahomes for a five-yard sack. On third down, Hubbard nearly won the game with a strip sack of Mahomes on which Mahomes circled and circled before getting grabbed at the Cincinnati 26.

“We were getting there in the first half, but he has the best pocket presence of anyone in the
league,” Hubbard said. “We just kept telling ourselves, ‘keep chopping wood, keep rushing, keep rushing.’ We were being disciplined in our rush lanes and it paid off. We were rushing three at times and able to sack him. It was a collective effort of everyone just relentlessly pursuing him. That’s all we did is keep grinding the whole way and it finally paid off.

“I don’t think I ever had sacks on back-to-back plays to send us to the Super Bowl. I guess that
what happens when you keep getting after it and stay the course. To be able to deliver that for my teammates, for the city, it’s hard to believe.”

Joe Thuney recovered, and Harrison Butker salvaged the tie that forced overtime with a 44-yard field goal.

Those would be only points by Kansas City in the second half and their final points of the season.

Last week, all the rage was about the Chiefs winning the opening toss of overtime, getting the ball, and putting the game away with a touchdown from Mahomes to Travis Kelce. Mahomes was 6-for-6 for 69 yards in the extra session against the Bills.

When Brandon Allen called heads and it was tails, Mahomes had the same chance again. But this didn’t feel like the same Mahomes – at all. He was rattled in the second half and Lou Anarumo’s defense was the reason why.

Mahomes’ first pass was overthrown to Demarcus Robinson. On second down, it seemed like fate landed right in the hands of Apple again, as he undercut Robinson in the short right. But instead of taking it to the house for a championship-winning pick-6, the ball fell to the turf.

On third down, the Bengals defense made sure to seal the deal. Jessie Bates tipped a ball for Tyreek Hill and Vonn Bell picked it and returned it to the Bengals 45.

“My thoughts were that we have a resilient group of guys,” Bell said. “We’re made for this moment. We were stacking up (third) downs, we were stopping them and building the momentum. We said, ‘Why not us? Let’s go out there and make the play.’ Hats off to the guys – we have a resilient group, like I said. Just knowing the guys and who they’re going to go to – who (Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes) is going to go to – it’s (WR Tyreek Hill) and (TE Travis Kelce). It’s knowing situations.

“That’s when (Mahomes) tried to go to 10 (Hill) at the end of the game. (S) Jessie (Bates III) broke it up and I just finished it off, running to the ball. We never quit, we never quit fighting and we never back down from the challenge. We just played our brand of football and that’s what we showed up with. It goes to the wire and we’re a resilient group.”

Six plays later, Evan McPherson kicked the Bengals to their third Super Bowl appearance and first in 33 years. And it was Lou Anarumo’s defense that enabled the Bengals to post the most dramatic and improbable win in the 54-year history of the franchise.

If they can do it on Feb. 13 against Cooper Kupp, Odell Beckham Jr. and Matthew Stafford, they might just have an even bigger celebration on tap for Cincinnati.