Wow…what a game. What an emotional roller coaster. I went 1 for 2 with my picks but I am happy with which one I got right. Here are 10 reactions from the weekend, my rankings of the teams left and one reason for hope for the losers.

1. It’s real hard to win in the league without a quarterback. Look, the Eagles are good and they might have won anyway but when your 3rd string quarterback gets hurt on the first drive and your 4th string quarterback gets concussed it is really hard to win a conference championship. I personally would have went wild cat as opposed to rolling Purdy out there to handoff in random ways. Earlier in the year I said Kyle Shanahan can win with anyone at quarterback but apparently he does need that person to at least be able to throw the ball.
2. Eagles have a really solid team. They don’t have any glaring issues. AJ Brown has been one of the best offseason pick ups. Devonte Smith has been excellent. They have a great stable of running backs. Hurts is obviously talented and their defense is solid at every level. They haven’t played the toughest of schedules but they have proven they are for real.
3. Things were chippy from beginning to end. The Eagles and 49ers got into it before the game started because Jimmy Ward walked through the Eagles as they were warming up and AJ Brown took offense. Then towards the end of the game some players wouldn’t stop wrestling over a ball even though the refs blew the whistle 47 times (I counted). Then Trent Williams tossed an Eagle guy to the ground like a rag doll. Then an Eagle threw a punch. This was literally the most exciting thing that happened in the game because the 49ers didn’t have a guy who could throw a 5 yard slant.
4. Redemption game. First of all, we finally beat the Bengals after 3 straight losses. But the way we did it was amazing. Skyy Moore dropped 3 punts earlier in the year, but due to multiple injuries he had to return punts again. He not only handled all the punts but had a great return to set up the final score. MVS had been quiet all year to the fact that many thought he wasn’t good and was a bad pick up. He was amazing all game. The same rookie corners that got toasted earlier in the year by multiple teams both had picks. The D-Line that couldn’t get Burrow the first 3 games sacked him 5 times. And Butker who had struggled all year, hits the game winner from 45 yards. It was all wonderful.
5. Who Dey got excuses. There are literally bad calls every game. But all the talk after every close game that the NFL is rigged is ridiculous. There were bad calls and missed calls on both sides. The Bengals fans and people who are tired of the Chiefs are blaming the refs and saying it is rigged over and over again. To be fair, there were Chiefs fans doing the same thing last year but lets take a look at some of the so called controversial calls. First there is the play that happened but didn’t happen. They started the game clock when they shouldn’t have. It was loud and so no one heard the whistle or saw the guy running in. They had to replay the down and if we had thrown a 40 yard completion the same would be true. This is just basic rules. It looked bad and was confusing. But it was the right call. Also, we punted like 3 plays later so it had little to no impact on the game. So called roughing the passer calls that should have been on Joe Burrow. Most of the time he got hit, he had just released the ball. There was one where it was clearly gone and Frank Clark gave him a little bump with the arm and Burrow flopped. He probably gets that call in week 3. He is not getting it in a conference championship game. Intentional grounding on Burrow. I mean, it was pretty much intentional grounding. It was at his linemen’s feet, not the running back. I sort of hate this rule in general because when you spike the ball to stop the clock…shouldn’t that be intentional grounding? But based upon what is normally called, it was a legit call. People are comparing it to a later call when Mahomes threw to Kelce and it hit the ground far in front of him but Mahomes got hit in the arm leading to the ball coming out short. Burrow didn’t get hit while throwing. Block in the back during the last punt return. This is the closest one in my opinion. Darius Harris does make contact but he holds up and pulls his hands back. It was borderline and could have gone either way. Holding by Orlando Brown on Mahomes last scramble. Brown’s hands are inside and by the letter of the NFL law isn’t holding. If the refs called holding everytime someone grabbed a little bit of jersey, it is all the game would be. Here is a great article detailing why it wasn’t holding. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/chiefs-bengals-holding-penalty-patrick-mahomes-scramble/cy0lh6ltloanuskgnpc8kuiy All that to be said…stop crying and take your L. You, your city and your players all talked smack all week and you lost. Deal with it.
6. Cockiest, mouthiest team that has never won anything. That’s the Bengals. As JuJu said early in the week the Bengals have always been a “rah, rah” team. Which is a nice way of saying they talk a lot of trash. But they never win anything. They have 10 playoff victories ever. They are 0-3 in Super Bowls. And even this team that is really good, hasn’t really won anything. And then the Mayor even got involved in one of the dumbest and most cringe worthy video/moments I have seen stating they wanted Burrow to take a paternity test to see if he was Mahomes daddy. As you all know, that did not go over well.
7. Chris Jones was a monster. Dude was so dominant all game. After never getting a post season sack, he had 10 hurries, 5 QB hits and 2 sacks. And some tackles for loss. Dude was a game wrecker.
8. Mahomes is a legend. All week long we heard from players about how much a high ankle sprain hurts and how much you can’t play on it or at a minimum won’t be the same. But that is how it goes for regular humans. Pat is not human. Mahomes has already done this before. He played through turf toe. He also had his knee cap on the side of his leg and was back and playing 3 weeks later. Dude is not normal. He wasn’t perfect but he was awesome. Because of all the injuries, he is out there throwing completions to Marcus Kemp for goodness sakes. He is the best quarterback in the league. Everyone but Skip Bayless agrees.
9. Mike “burrowhead” Hilton had a rough day. I am not saying they were picking on him…but they were picking on him. Mahomes was 8-9 when targeting him and should have been 9-9 if Toney would have caught that touchdown on the first drive. When targeting MVS against him, he was 5-5 with a td. Hilton is a good player but would be wise to keep his mouth shut before next year.
10. They won for themselves, they won for Arrowhead, they won for Kansas City. Every Chiefs fan I know was emotionally invested in this game as much as any game probably since the first super bowl against the 49ers. We all wanted to win before all the smack talk but after that, we really wanted to win. In a lot of ways this was our Super Bowl. I mean, sure I want to win next week but this is the game that really mattered. We all wanted this win. And our Chiefs came through like champs. When the game ended, I wasn’t even really thinking about the Super Bowl. All I could think was “Suck it Cincy!”

Rankings of who is left:

1A. Eagles: They have a better overall roster. Better skill guys. Better defensive guys. Probably better overall O-Line. But…

1B. Chiefs: We have Mahomes

Hope for teams that lost:

49ers: Great season. Great future. I mean come on, what are the chances that 4 quarterbacks get hurt for you next year? Don’t answer that.

Bengals: You don’t deserve hope

Keep your eye out for the 5 for 5 later today or this weekend.