The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday set up a Super Bowl rematch after battling through to the NFL championship showpiece on a dramatic day of playoff action.
The reigning champion Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years after upsetting the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in Maryland to clinch the American Football Conference Championship crown.
Meanwhile, the 49ers advanced to a repeat of their 2020 Super Bowl defeat to the Chiefs after staging a stunning second-half fightback to sink the Detroit Lions 34-31.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
The Lions — one of only four teams who have never played in a Super Bowl — looked poised to end that jinx after storming into a 24-7 halftime lead before a shocked 49ers home crowd in Santa Clara, California.
However, San Francisco rattled off 27 second half points at Levi’s Stadium to clinch the National Football Conference Championship and punch their ticket to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.
Detroit were left ruing their risky second half decisions to pass up two kickable field goals in the second half in favor of fourth down conversions attempts that failed.
Photo: AFP
On both occasions, San Francisco regained possession and marched upfield to score decisive touchdowns.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said his team had been determined to turn things around after being mauled by Detroit in the first half.
“We didn’t want to go out like that,” Shanahan said. “That would have been a real rough way to end it if we couldn’t play better with our group. I’m so proud of the guys. They didn’t really care about anything except finding a way to win. You could see it on their faces. You could see it at halftime. You could see it in that third quarter. You could see it all the way to the end of the game.”
In Baltimore, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson — the presumptive NFL Most Valuable Player — was stifled by Kansas City’s swarming defense, while Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes marshaled his team brilliantly to lead them back to the Super Bowl once more.
“It’s been a heck of a year, we’ve been underdogs for the last few games, but we never feel like underdogs,” said Mahomes, who threw one touchdown and 241 yards with no interceptions.
The Chiefs now face the 49ers in a repeat of their 2020 Super Bowl meeting in Miami in which Mahomes led a late rally to secure a 31-20 victory.
Another Kansas City veteran of that Super Bowl victory — tight end Travis Kelce — had 11 receptions for 116 yards, which included the Chiefs opening touchdown, to surpass the legendary Jerry Rice in the record books for most all-time post-season catches.
Pop icon Taylor Swift gave Kelce a short peck and embraced him on the field after the game.
Her romance with Kelce, which became one of the prominent stories this season, was front and center throughout the game.
Before accepting the Lamar Hunt Trophy for the fourth time in five years, coach Andy Reid, standing on stage, found Swift in the crowd and pointed at her. Swift pointed back.
Additional reporting by AP
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS