Joe Burrow threw two touchdown passes, Cincinnati’s defense plowed past Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen on a snowy field, and the Bengals advanced to the AFC Championship Game for the second straight year with a 27-10 victory over the Bills on Saturday. Sunday.
The inspiring presence of Damar Hamlin watching the game from an end zone box was not enough to motivate the Bills in a rematch of the canceled regular season game on Jan. 2, when the Bills safety suffered an injury. cardiac arrest and was resuscitated in the field in Cincinnati.
Instead, it was “Joe Cool” who showed his calm playing under a persistent snowfall.
Burrow completed his first nine passes for 105 yards to lead Cincinnati to a 14-0 lead after his first two drives. Ja’Marr Chase opened the scoring with a 28-yard reception after 3:20 into the game, followed by Burrow’s 15-yard pass to Hayden Hurst eight minutes later.
Joe Mixon scored on a 1-yard run and Evan McPherson kicked field goals of 20 and 28 yards in a game the Bengals never trailed.
Allen completed 25 of 42 passes for 265 yards.
“They came out and played hard,” Allen lamented. “We just couldn’t today.”
The Bengals advanced to back-to-back AFC Championship Games for the first time in franchise history and will again travel to face the Chiefs in Kansas City. The Bengals defeated the Chiefs 27-24 to advance to the Super Bowl last year, which they lost to the Los Angeles Rams.
“It’s going to be fun,” said Burrow, who completed 23 of 36 passes for 242 yards. “Two of the best players in the league, two of the best teams, great defenses, complete teams and great coaches.”
Cincinnati has won the last three meetings against Kansas City, including a 27-24 win last month. The Chiefs will make their fifth straight appearance in the AFC Championship Game after beating Jacksonville 27-20 on Saturday.
“It was dominance from start to finish,” Burrow said. “That is what we expected. But our work is not done.”
The Bills’ playoff run ended for the second straight season in the divisional round, including last year’s 42-36 overtime loss to Kansas City.
Had they beaten Cincinnati, the AFC Championship Game would have been played in Atlanta next weekend, as the Bills (13-3) finished the season a half-game behind the Chiefs (14-3) after they the game against Cincinnati was cancelled.
