The Cincinnati Bengals played their hearts out against the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game but fell short of the mark in three key areas. Turnovers gave the Chiefs far too many opportunities to make the plays necessary to get out to a fourth-quarter lead, and despite some big plays throughout the game, the Bengals just couldn’t seem to keep momentum.
Joe Burrow looked rattled at times against Kansas City’s resurgent pass rush, and it would seem that all of Cincinnati’s trash talk this week was for naught as their season came down to a failed hook and ladder on a kickoff return as time expired.
They fought hard but fell short. Here are three factors that led to the Bengals’ loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday:
Bengals' pass rush fell flat against Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes was clearly limited in his mobility in this game, and Cincinnati should have had no problem getting to him when plays broke down. On one leg, Mahomes managed to throw for more than 300 yards against the Bengals’ secondary, partly due to the pockets created by his offensive line that compensated for his lack of movement.
Cincinnati managed to sack him twice but needed to get him to the ground several more times to limit Mahomes’ effectiveness in the passing game. Especially given the quarterback’s limited abilities, it was expected that the Bengals’ front four would be able to have more of an impact on this game.
Lack of running game caused Cincinnati to lose the time of possession battle.
Kansas City is undefeated this season when they win the time of possession battle, and without a legitimate running game in this matchup, the Bengals fell victim to Andy Reid’s “Mahomes Ball” strategy. The more time Mahomes has to work his magic on offense, the more likely his opponents will be to have to make up a deficit late in the game.
Bengals running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine combined for 13 carries in this game, which was not nearly enough to keep the clock grinding and strand Mahomes on the Chiefs’ sideline.
Joe Burrow's two interceptions proved costly.
Cincinnati seemed to have Kansas City dead to rights at times in this matchup, but lost the turnover battle after Joe Burrow threw two costly interceptions to Chiefs rookies. Against a seasoned team like Kansas City, turnovers are absolutely intolerable in the pursuit of victory, and the end result proved that the Bengals could have won with just a few more points on the board.
One can’t fault Burrow for throwing deep down the field to keep up with the Chiefs’ electric offense, but with so little margin for error, Cincinnati may have been better served by a more conservative approach.
