The Baltimore Ravens hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon. After an explosive first half that made the score 17-7, defense ruled the day for both teams. QB Lamar Jackson ended up with one interception, one fumble, and one touchdown with a passer rating of 75.5. After a brilliant first quarter, he did not play up to the MVP-level that he played at all season long. The Ravens lost 17-10 to end their season.
The Ravens started the game with the ball, but the Chiefs were the first to put points on the board with a beautiful throw and catch from QB Patrick Mahomes to TE Travis Kelce. All-Pro S Kyle Hamilton was in a great position, but Mahomes put the ball low and on Kelce’s back shoulder where Hamilton had no chance to make a play on the ball.
The Ravens quickly responded with a touchdown of their own on an amazing play by Jackson. He was nearly sacked, escaped pressure and tossed the ball deep to Zay Flower in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
The Chiefs marched right back down the field with some key third down conversions, including this wild play by Mahomes in which he held the ball for nearly ten seconds in the backfield before finding Kelce to convert. Isiah Pachecho punched it in on the ground for the score a couple plays later. The Chiefs’ two scoring drives at that point in the game were 10 and 17 plays respectively.
The Chiefs already had the momentum, but DE Charles Omenihu strip-sacked Jackson to give the Chiefs the ball back in scoring range, but the Ravens made a huge fourth down stop to turnover the football on downs. Both defenses held strong the rest of the half, but a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Ravens led to a field goal for the Chiefs at the end of the half. They held a 17-7 lead set to get the ball back at the top of the second half.
The third quarter was much more in line with what was expected from the two great defenses as neither team could get much going on offense. In the final seconds of the quarter, Jackson completed a 54-yard pass to Zay Flowers get the Ravens into scoring range.
A few plays later, Flowers dove for the end zone and fumbled prior to crossing the goal line. The Chiefs recovered and forced a touchback to put an abrupt end to the Ravens’ most successful drive of the half. That was an enormous swing as it maintained a two-possession lead for the Chiefs in the fourth quarter.
The Ravens put together a 12-play drive in the fourth quarter and were just outside the red zone before Jackson threw an interception in the end zone. With 6:45 remaining, that interception was more or less the nail in the coffin for the Ravens’ season.
Ther Ravens marched down the field, but used almost two and a half minutes of the clock before Justin Tucker made it a one-possession game. The Chiefs got the ball back with 2:34 remaining and managed to pick up a key first down to ice the game.
The two turnovers in the end zone were the deciding factor in the game and the Ravens, who are normally great with turnover differential, lost the stat decidedly in the most important game of the season.
For the second year in a row, and the fourth time in the last five years, the Kansas City Chiefs will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. What an impressive stretch of play for Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and the Chiefs’ franchise.
