Cincinnati Bengals finally heading to the big stage

My oh my, that’s the young and hungry Cincinnati Bengals finally heading to the big stage, the Super Bowl Feb. 13, and will, as has been the case, take what they can get.

The National Football League’s AFC champion after a leniently drought, nothing else matters as they are again the underdog when they line up against the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the home field of the Rams.

They were the underdogs in the playoff home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders and survived. Same with the win as underdogs at the AFC top-seeded Tennessee Titans won on a game-winning field goal by rookie Evan McPherson, and of course were the underdogs in Sunday’s conference finals played at the 2nd-seeded Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

But just like that, they stomped on the long drought and will arrive at this Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years after a remarkable comeback that brought a 27-24 win in KC via another game-winning field goal from McPherson.

“It’s a special team that’s capable of doing special things,” said coach Zac Taylor, who was in elementary school the last time this franchise played in the Super Bowl.

Taylor added we’ve said that from the get-go, whether people believed in us or not, that we believed, so we’re not surprised.

“I’d say nobody blinked an eye,” McPherson said when Cincinnati fell behind early. “I think we all thought we were going to come back and win this game.”

It’s difficult to win on the road, but even more so in Kansas City, but the Bengals roared back from an 18-point deficit, tying an AFC title game largest comeback record.

It was the calm and cool McPherson’s booming 52-yarder that put his team in front 24-21 when its offense surged and its defense shut down quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the offensive-minded Chief before a packed house at cold-weather Arrowhead.

But Harrison Butler’s 44-yard boot as time expired in regulation sent the tilt into overtime just as he did in the 49-yarder made versus the Buffalo Bills.

This time, Cincinnati back-up quarterback Brandon Allen made the OT coin toss and called heads, but it came up tails that gave the home team possession. But it didn’t last long as Vonn Bell intercepted Mahomes on the third play, and Bengals’ starter Joe Burrow, who transferred from Ohio State to Louisiana State and won the Heisman Trophy, took over.

And now, with Burrow having a third-straight huge playoff game and in charge despite his offensive line allowing 57 sacks,Cincinnati is heading to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989 after winning its first back-to-back overtime

playoff games.

“Usually,” said Burrow, the second-year QB, “when you lose the coin flip to those guys, you’re going home. But our defense really stepped up and made plays in the second half. And on offense we made plays that we had to, and I thought our offensive line really played well all day. We began running the ball at the end and that’s exciting.”

“Big, big win for us,” he added.

Mahomes was disappointed, but said “When you are up 21-3 at any point in the game, you can’t lose it, and I put that on myself.”

The Chiefs, seeking a return trip to the Super Bowl after losing at Tampa Bay last year, finished at 14-6.

And the who dey, who dat Bengals, they now own a 13-7 record and will pack their gear for the West Coast. It might have been better to play the 6th-seeded San Francisco 49ers as if it was a road game on a neutral field, but it doesn’t matter as Cincinnati finally takes the last steps, and of course as the underdog as the Rams open as a 5-point favorite.