Why KC Chiefs vs. Bengals will be very different this time around

Reason 3: That Ending Could Never Happen Again

I went back and watched the ending of the first game against those two teams and I still can’t figure out how the Bengals pulled that off. I’m no statistician, but I’d have to say that the odds of an NFL game ending like that have to be a million to one (or worse). Here’s a recap of what happened to start with the Bengals having the ball with 2:10 remaining:

With 2:10 remaining the Bengals had 3rd and 1 from the KC 2-yard line and the officials missed a clear false start by the Bengals left guard. There’s no debate here, he clearly flinches. That would have made it 3rd-and-6 from the KC 7-yard line. Maybe the Bengals score a touchdown, maybe they still make a field goal, but the odds of the game playing out the exact same and them kicking a field goal as time expires are slim to none. Instead, Mixon gets one yard and they have 1st and goal with 2:00 to go.

2:00 to go, 1st and goal at the 1, Burrow snuck for no gain and KC calls timeout.

1:55 to go, 2nd and goal at the 1, Burrow snuck for no gain again and KC calls their final timeout.

1:46 to go, 3rd and goal at the 1, Mixon for no gain, Bengals ran the play clock down and then use their final timeout.

0:58 to go, 4th and goal at the 1, Zac Taylor decided he didn’t want to give Mahomes the ball with just a field goal lead even if there’s less than a minute to go and goes for the touchdown. The Chiefs stop Mixon on a screen for no gain and a turnover on downs, but there are offsetting penalties including a defensive holding call on Charvarius Ward so they replay the down.

0:50 to go, 4th and goal at the 1, Burrow missed on a throw to Tyler Boyd for a turnover on downs, but a penalty called on L’Jarius Sneed for illegal use of hands gave Cincy a new set of downs.

The Bengals then knelt the ball to drain the clock, spiked the ball with 3 seconds to go, and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Seriously, no team could pull that series off again if they tried. The combination of a critical missed call, repeated stops for no gain at the goal line, and perfectly timed penalties that saved a turnover on downs could never happen again. I still can’t believe it happened once.

Obviously, there was more to this Bengals win than this final drive (we’ll get to that next), but the way they won at the end was so freakish you just have to write it off and move on.

So next let’s talk about what amazing things the Bengals did to win the first game.