No. 1 seed Kansas City faced off against the visiting No. 6 Cleveland Browns to decide who would move on to the AFC Championship game and verse the Buffalo Bills. After a close game, the Chiefs rose to the occasion and handed it to the Browns, defeating them in a 22-17 victory at home. The Browns will head home after a tough loss.
Many fans and commentators predicted the Chiefs to run right by the Browns and leave them in the dust. That was not the case though. Kansas scored first, getting a touchdown early at the beginning of the game, a little over 5 minutes into it. Then Harrison Butker took to the field for the first time after that scoring play; he missed his extra-point attempt, keeping the game at a 6-0 lead. This gave the Browns some hope, and they immediately responded by earning a field goal by kicker Cody Parkey from 46 yards out with 2 minutes and 41 seconds left in the quarter.
When the Chiefs had the ball in the second quarter, they went 75 yards down the field in just 7 plays. That gain led them to another touchdown from Travis Kelce, who caught a pass from his quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Butker then made up for his earlier missed extra point and successfully completed this attempt to make it 13-3.
Kansas did not stop there though, and the Browns then had to punt the ball to them twice; the Chiefs obtained 2 more field goals by Butker (50 yards and 28 yards). Going into the half, Kansas City had a massive lead at 19-3. The Browns were unable to convert any points in the second quarter.
It looked as if the Browns were done for when they came out of the locker room and quarterback Baker Mayfield almost immediately threw an interception to Tyrann Mathieu intended for Jarvis Landry. This play happened only 9 seconds into the start of the third quarter. However, a little spark of hope was still left when the Chiefs took the ball down the field, and Butker’s field goal attempt was no good as it hit the left upright, making it the second time he would miss in the game.
With the interception play behind them, Cleveland made their way slowly down the field and secured their first touchdown. Mayfield looked to Landry again, and this time it was a success as they picked off a 4-yard passing touchdown. Cody Parkey nailed the extra point, closing the huge gap in the game to 10-19. That did not last too long though, and after 11 plays, Kansas City kicked another field goal to expand their lead to 22-10.
Noone thought the Browns would be able to bounce back, with the Chiefs taking advantage of every play they could. Just before the middle of the third quarter, Patrick Mahomes was hit by Mack Wilson and went down hard. Mahomes, slow to get up, was just walked off the field, questionable to return. A while later, the Chiefs announced he would not return to play, and he had a concussion. With Mahomes out, this left backup quarterback Chad Henne to run the rest of the game. It is unknown if Mahomes will return to play the Bills.
Now that Mahomes was out, the Browns finally felt as if they had a chance. Having the ball at the start of the fourth quarter, they inched their way to the Chiefs’ red zone. Kareem Hunt rushed the ball 3 yards for a touchdown, and Parkey made his extra point, the score now being 22-17. Although Cleveland did everything in their power to get another touchdown and win the game, the Chiefs defense stepped up and didn’t let them through, and put the Browns season to an end. Kansas City did not put any points up in the fourth quarter.
Next Up
Kansas City will play No. 2 Buffalo Bills with the home advantage at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, January 24th at 6:40 ET. The winner of the AFC Championship game will determine who plays in the Superbowl LV game. The NFL channel will be broadcasting this game live.
