NFL Weekend Recap
Two MVP candidate quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are going to face off with the 2 best teams in football backing them. Hosted in Arizona, Superbowl 57 should not disappoint.
This Sunday, four teams played for a chance to be a participant in Super Bowl 57. For the AFC championship game, the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals showed down as arguably the 2 best teams in the conference. The Chiefs finished 14-3 in the regular season which ultimately gave them the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs. Doing this gave them a first-round bye, which led to them playing the Jacksonville Jaguars for the Divisional Title. Although many people thought this would be a walk-through for the Chiefs, Jacksonville gave them a run for their money with a final score of 27-20 for a Chiefs victory. For the Bengals, they finished with a 12-4 record due to unforeseen circumstances in the last week of the regular season, which was not counted toward their record. This gave them the 3rd seed in the playoffs which forced them to play in the Wild Card round against the Baltimore Ravens, where they won 24-17. In the following week, they knocked off the 2nd seed Buffalo Bills in a rematch from the null game in the last week of the year. They won 27-10 with a great defensive effort to stop Josh Allen and the Bills. The stage was set, a rematch of last year’s AFC championship between these 2 teams where the Bengals were able to win on a game-winning field goal from Evan McPherson, sending them to the Big Game. This year’s game was hosted by the Chiefs due to them being a higher seed. The Chiefs struck first with a field goal in the first quarter and then again in the opening seconds of the 2nd quarter. The Bengals, still scoreless, finally got on the board midway through the second quarter with a field goal. Following that, Patrick Mahomes was able to find Travis Kelce for a 14-yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up 13-3. Fortunately for the Bengals, they were able to kick another field goal in the closing seconds of the half to make it 13-6 at halftime. In the third quarter, both teams were able to get in the endzone with touchdowns from Tee Higgins of the Bengals and Marquez Valdes-Scantling of the Chiefs. Early in the fourth quarter, the Bengals found the endzone, again, with a rushing touchdown from Samaje Perine to tie the game up. After battling for the rest of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs were able to put away the Bengals with a game-winning field goal from 45 yards out from Harrison Butker. After 2 years, Patrick Mahomes and the dominant Chiefs are back in the biggest game of the year. On the other side of the bracket, things went a little differently. The NFC championship was a matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles came into this game red hot as they finished the regular season 14-3, which clinched a first-round bye as they were the top seed in the NFC. In the prior week, they faced off against the New York Giants in an NFC East divisional showdown. The Eagles had already beaten the Giants twice earlier in the season and capped off the third time with a blowout victory of 38-7. For the 49ers, the route wasn’t quite that easy. After finishing 13-4, they picked up the second seed in the NFC where they opened with the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round. After winning 41-23, the 49ers played against “America’s Team”, the Dallas Cowboys. After a hard-fought, close battle, the 49ers reigned victorious over the Cowboys with a 19-12 win. With Philadelphia being the top team, the stage was set in the city of brotherly love. After an early injury to 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, the Eagles didn’t skip a beat to take advantage in controlling the game. At the end of the half, the score was 21-7 due to 4 rushing touchdowns coming from Miles Sanders (2), Boston Scott (1), and Christian McCaffrey (1). Without Purdy, the 49ers were stuck and couldn’t recover. Jalen Hurts added on with another rushing touchdown for the eagles in the closing minute of the third quarter. With a 28-7 lead going into the fourth quarter, it appeared that the Eagles were going to be headed to Arizona to play in Superbowl 57. After a Jake Elliot field goal, the final score was a 31-7 Eagles victory. With the Superbowl just 2 weeks away, the tension is growing. Two MVP candidate quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are going to face off with the 2 best teams in football backing them. Hosted in Arizona, Superbowl 57 should not disappoint.
