Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow Ends A 33-Year Super Bowl Drought

Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow snaps a 33-year Super Bowl drought with the upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-24. Everyone in Cincinnati is partying like it’s 1988 and rightfully so. The Bengals are only two years removed from having the worst record in the NFL. The Bengals join the 1981 San Francisco 49ers and 2003 Carolina Panthers with the quickest turnaround from worst record to Super Bowl contenders, per ESPN. The Cincinnati Bengals had five losing seasons prior to 2021. In 1999, the Rams had a long string of losing seasons prior to reaching the Super Bowl.

Just to give a glimpse of how different things were in the 80s, the Bengals were the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Cincinnati Bengals demonstrated remarkable success during that season leading the league in points, total yards, and rushing yards. Boomer Esiason, the Bengals’ talented quarterback at the time. Was even honored with the MVP award for his outstanding performance. He threw for an impressive 3,573 yards and 28 touchdowns. The Bengals powered through their playoff games with great force and reached the Super Bowl to face off against the San Francisco 49ers. Although they ultimately fell short against the 49ers. This marked their final chance to pursue a championship title.

The Chiefs led the majority of the game. In fact, the Bengals trailed 21-3 late in the first half becoming the second team in the AFC Championship history to overcome an 18-point deficit. Many never thought that they would see the day; however, Patrick Mahomes choked the game away yesterday. While Burrow remained calm and collected throughout every big moment in the game. The Bengals now are 3-0 in AFC Championship games.

How Patrick Mahomes choked against the Cincinnati Bengals

The Chiefs scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions in the ballgame. Mahomes passed for 275 yards, scoring three touchdowns but also throwing two interceptions. He also completed 26 out of his 39 thrown passes. The theme throughout the game seemed to be the tale of two halves. In the first half, Mahomes was rocking and couldn’t do any wrong with the football. However, in the second half, he was held to 59 yards passing, one interception, and completed seven out of his 13 passes.

Mahomes QBR dropped from 98 to 1.4 in the second half. This is the sixth-worst second-half performance in the NFL this year, per sources. According to The Athletic, the Chiefs’ second-half offense had its worst EPA/drive performance in any of the 74 games of Mahomes has started. The Bengals defensive coordinator Anarumo put the clamps on the Chiefs and made them fade away.

While Mahomes underachieved, this can’t be put all on the young quarterback. Head coach Andy Reid costed his team precious points right before the half being too greedy. Bengals cornerback Eli Apple made the game-changing tackle just before halftime.

Needed that one. 😤

Watch on CBS pic.twitter.com/ow5LCbmk5u

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 30, 2022