By: Marvin Azrak
When the dust settled, the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, and Kansas City Chiefs survived and advanced to the conference championship weekend.
RECAP:
BENGALS 19 TITANS 16
Rookie kicker Even McPherson’s 12 point day lifted Cincinnati to their first-ever road playoff win. Tied at 16 after seeing his defense get a stop, part of a playoff record-tying nine sack day of Joe Burrow, Ryan Tanahill was pressured and was picked off in the waning seconds, setting the stage for a 52 yard Field Goal by Evan McPherson to send the underdog Bengals to the AFC championship game and the #1 seeded Titans home.
49ers 13 PACKERS 10
In snowy Green Bay, the top-seeded Packers were “Snow’d out” of the NFC championship game. Niners kicker Robbie Gould kicked a
buzzer-beating FG through the uprights for San Francisco’s second straight road playoff win. Despite getting next to nothing out of the offense, Jimmy Garrapalo and the six seeded 49ers are going to the NFC championship game.
RAMS 30 BUCS 27
You can see Marv’s recap of this game on thejewishvoice.com
BILLS 36 CHIEFS 42F/OT:
It was only fitting that the best game ever watched by 51.7 million fans was the most anticipated of the four, as Buffalo and Kansas City squared off 364 days after their AFC championship game bout when Patrick Mahomes defeated Josh Allen in Arrowhead. Back at that identical sight a year later, the two young superstars put on a show that had the sports world clamoring for more even after one team was sent home.
Down 26-21 with 2:50 left, Allen was on the brink of elimination facing fourth down in his territory, before he found Gabriel Davis for a 27-26 Buffalo advantage, which would become a three-point lead after a Stephon Diggs two-point conversion.
However, with a single play did the pulse of Mahomes and the Chiefs of the AFC rise off the mat once again when Tyreke” The Cheetah” Hill burst into the endzone to give the hosts the lead again with 1:00 left.
But 47 seconds later, Josh Allen would throw his final pass of the 2021 campaign, firing a laser to Gabriel Davis again for his fourth TD of the day and a 36-33 Buffalo advantage with a mere 13 seconds remaining in regulation.
Patrick Mahomes responded, and found a streaking Hill for 15 and a prominent Travis Kelce for 19 when he was required to make the two most accurate throws of his four-year career thus far. It allowed Butker to nail a 49 yarder through the Missouri night to send the game to overtime and cap off the wildest 2:00 minute drill in NFL history.
It ultimately came down to the overtime coin toss, which the Chiefs won (Heads), and completed yet another improbable comeback in their franchise first ever dynasty, with Patty15 finding his leading man in Kelce for the victory.
