In case you missed the news of the day, the Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl by way of beating the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in overtime.
However, if it had not been for a few former Ohio State players, the Bengals wouldn’t have been there. There are five former OSU players on Cincinnati’s side if you count Joe Burrow, and many of them had a hand in how the game played out at the end.
The Bengals erased an 18-point deficit and it all started with a stop by Eli Apple when the Chiefs got a little greedy trying to score a touchdown before the half instead of settling for a field goal. Apple came up big by tackling Tyreke Hill in bounds short of the end zone to force time to run out. It seemed somewhat inconsequential at the time, but it kept the lead at 21-10 Chiefs heading into halftime.
What a stop by the @Bengals defense to end the half! #NFLPlayoffs #RuleTheJungle
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS
📱: https://t.co/dKNUFkxkbU pic.twitter.com/Rxtmq9cnBt— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2022
Cincinnati continued chipping away in the second half when even more dramatics took place from former Buckeyes. The Bengals went up by three points on a field goal late in the game, but Mahomes and the Chiefs had the ball with a chance to go into the endzone and win the game.
With Kansas City moving into position, former defensive end Buckeye defensive end Sam Hubbard rushed Mahomes to force a strip-sack with KC on the nine-yard looking to get into paydirt. Kansas City recovered, but it pushed the offense back far enough to make scoring a touchdown unlikely.
SAM HUBBARD! pic.twitter.com/w5Ra4592yF
— Barstool OSU (@BarstoolOSU) January 30, 2022
That forced the Chiefs to kick a field goal to send it into overtime. They would win the toss and get the ball first, but two more OSU players came up big. First, former OSU cornerback Eli Apple broke up a pass, almost intercepting it for a pick-six.
And then, the biggest of all plays was the interception of Mahomes by former Ohio State safety Vonn Bell on 3rd and 10.
INTERCEPTED BY VONN BELL.
THE BENGALS CAN WIN IT WITH A FG. #NFLPlayoffs
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS
📱: https://t.co/dKNUFkxkbU pic.twitter.com/nJk7A8PqJR— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2022
From there, Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ offense got the field position it needed to go down and kick the winning field goal to improbably send the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI.
Last season, there wasn’t a single former Ohio State player in the Super Bowl. This year, one team wouldn’t have made it without a slew of them contributing to the cause.
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