Chiefs headed to Super Bowl as defense dominates Ravens in 17-10 win

BALTIMORE – The Kansas City Chiefs will play in their fourth Super Bowl in five years.

Facing a rare AFC Championship Game on the road, the Chiefs showed they can win away from Arrowhead Stadium, with Patrick Mahomes leading Kansas City to a 17-10 victory over the Ravens.

The Chiefs are headed to Las Vegas and in two weeks, will face the winner of Sunday night’s NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and Lions. A win would be Kansas City’s second straight and third in five years.

Mahomes outdueled likely league MVP Lamar Jackson, leading the Chiefs to long touchdown drives on their first two possessions, then letting his defense handle the rest. 

The Kansas City unit led by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was phenomenal, limiting Jackson all day and forcing three key Ravens turnovers.

Trailing by 10, the Ravens got a spark late in the third quarter with a 54-yard pass from Lamar Jackson to rookie receiver Zay Flowers, but he was flagged for taunting, costing him 15 yards. The two hooked up again, but Flowers made an even larger mistake — as he was going into the end zone to pull Baltimore within three points, Chiefs corner L’Jarius Sneed poked the ball loose inside the 1-yard line, and corner Trent McDuffie recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Jackson found Nelson Agholor for a 39-yard play to the Chiefs’ 25, but he threw into triple coverage and Chiefs safety Deon Bush picked it off in the end zone to have another drive come up empty.

Baltimore again drove to the Kansas City 25, but the drive stalled there. They settled for a Justin Tucker field goal with 2:34 left to make it a one-score game. The Ravens couldn’t get the stops, as Mahomes threw deep to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a key first down at the two-minute warning.

Kansas City didn’t score in the second half, but didn’t need to. The Chiefs opened the game with two long touchdown drives against the league’s No. 1 defense, with Mahomes hitting tight end Travis Kelce for a 19-yard touchdown on the first, then Isiah Pacheco capping the second with a 2-yard scoring run for a 14-7 lead. Mahomes completed his first 11 passes, leaning heavily on Kelce and rookie receiver Rashee Rice.

In between, Baltimore scored a touchdown of their own, with Jackson escaping a sack and throwing a 30-yard score to rookie receiver Zay Flowers. That 14-7 score would stick until just before halftime, when two 15-yard penalties on Baltimore allowed the Chiefs to add a 52-yard field goal by Harrison Butker for a 17-7 lead at the half.

Kelce caught everything thrown his way, with nine catches on nine targets in the first half for 91 yards. The lone turnover came when Kansas City’s Charles Omenihu got a strip-sack, forcing Jackson to fumble, with George Karlaftis recovering. The Chiefs couldn’t convert the turnover to points, as they went for it on fourth-and-1 in the red zone and Pacheco was stopped for no gain.

Baltimore’s defense shut the Chiefs down. After touchdowns on their first two drives, Kansas City didn’t score again, with five punts in the second half. Jackson had two of the team’s three turnovers, however, again unable to find the same success in the postseason that he’s had in the regular season.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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