Rex Burkhead capped off a 13 play, 75 yard drive 4:52 into overtime Sunday night with a two yard touchdown run to send the New England Patriots to their franchise record third straight Super Bowl appearance with a 37-31 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship at Arrowhead Stadium.
The first half was dominated by the Patriots as they amassed 245 total yards to just 32 yards for the Chiefs. New England (13-5) took a 14-0 lead into the break on a Sony Michel short touchdown run, and a Tom Brady 29 yard scoring pass to Phillip Dorsett. It was the first time this season the Chiefs had been shutout in a half. Kansas City quickly came out in the third quarter and went 74 yards in just four plays, culminating with a 12 yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce to cut it to 14-7. The key play was a 54 yard pass from Mahomes to Sammy Watkins.
Stephen Gostkowski extended the Pats lead to 10 later in the quarter on a 47 yard field goal to make it 17-7. The Chiefs had the answer when Mahomes found Damien Williams for a one yard score to make it 17-14 early in the fourth quarter. After Brady threw his second interception of the night on a ball that deflected off Julian Edelman and into the hands of a Chiefs defender, Kansas City took their first lead on Mahomes third passing touchdown of the night of 23 yards to Williams to make it 21-17.
Michel put New England ahead again when he scampered in from 10 yards out with 3:32 left in the game. Williams did it once more though as the back and forth game changed leads for the third time in the quarter when he ran one in with 2:03 left to make it 28-24 Kansas City. The Chiefs looked as if they had won the game when Brady threw one high to Rob Gronkowski that was intercepted with 54 seconds left, only to be negated by an offsides penalty that continued the drive. The Patriots then looked like they had the game won when Burkhead scored his first of the night from four yards out with 39 seconds left. Mahomes though made a couple big throws to get the Chiefs in field goal range, and Harrison Butker tied it with a 39 yard boot with just eight seconds left to send it to overtime. The Patriots won the coin toss and drove down the field, including several key passes on third down by Brady. Brady converted on three third down plays that were eight yards or more during the game winning drive, with two going to Edelman and the one to Gronkowski to set up the short run by Burkhead to end it. This will be the ninth Super Bowl game for New England in the Brady-Bill Belichik era.
Brady was 30-46 passing, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Michel carried 29 times for 113 yards, as the Patriots rushed for 176 yards on the night. Edelman caught seven passes for 96 yards, while Gronkowski was big in the blocking game and also had six key catches for 79 yards. Kyle Van Noy had 10 total tackles for the defense, including two sacks as New England sacked Mahomes four times. Mahomes finished 16-31, 295 yards, and three touchdowns for the 13-5 Chiefs. KC only managed 41 yards rushing, as Williams had 96 all-purpose yards (30 rush, 66 receiving) and three big fourth quarter touchdowns. Watkins had four catches for 114 yards to lead the receiving core. Daniel Sorenson and Anthony Hitchens each had 14 total tackles to anchor the defense. New England outgained Kansas City 524-290 in yardage, converted on nearly 70 percent of third down plays, and also held the time of possession of almost 44 minutes compared to a little less than 21 for the Chiefs.
New England will try to make it six titles out of nine appearances with Brady and Belichik when they face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 3rd at 6:37 p.m. The Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in overtime of the NFC Championship on Sunday, also marking the first time since 2012 that both road teams won conference championships. New England faced the Rams who were out of St Louis at the time in Super Bowl XXXVI back on February 3, 2002. In that matchup, Brady led a late drive to set up a game winning Adam Vinatieri field goal to give the Patriots their first ever Super Bowl title by a score of 20-17.
