Joe Burrow discusses Super Bowl berth: 'Unbelievable'

For the first time since 1989, the Cincinnati Bengals are headed to the Super Bowl, thanks in large part to quarterback Joe Burrow.

Burrow did what once seemed impossible on Sunday, marching into Arrowhead Stadium and defeating the heavily-favored Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Perhaps more impressively, though, is that the Bengals had to overcome a 21-7 deficit in order to pull it off; Cincinnati ultimately managed to send the game into overtime, and thanks to a stop from the defense, Burrow was in position for a game-winning drive.

15 plays and 74 yards later, the Bengals were firmly in field-goal range, and Evan McPherson’s field goal sent the franchise to its first Super Bowl in quite some time.

“I mean our defense was unbelievable in the second half,” Burrow said to Tracy Wolfson postgame. “They had a great plan on the defensive side against us. We struggled a little bit (on offense). But we had a great plan in the second half. Unbelievable. I’m just a little speechless right now.”

Burrow and the Bengals have done what has long been considered impossible in the NFL, as they’ve completed a rebuild from bottom-to-top of the table in just two seasons. Two years ago, the Bengals were awarded the first-overall pick in the NFL Draft for finishing with the league’s worst record; last year, Burrow showed promise but ultimately suffered a season-ending knee injury; and now, in year two of his NFL career, he’s heading to the Super Bowl.

Burrow finished with 23 completions in 38 attempts, good for 250 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, while throwing just one interception. Additionally, Burrow rushed for decent yardage on several second-half plays, amassing 25 rushing yards on the game. But as he noted, the defense did a terrific job of keeping the Bengals within striking distance, holding the Chiefs to just three points the entire second half. Plus, the Bengals lost the opening coin flip, thus forcing them to stop Mahomes and the Chiefs offense one more time to even get Burrow the ball.

“Usually when you lose a coin flip to those guys, you’re going home,” Burrow said of the Chiefs. “But our defense made plays in the second half, and on offense, we made plays when we had to. I thought our offensive line played really well all day. We started running the ball well there at the end, that was exciting. Big win for us.”

Up next — against all expectations — the Super Bowl.

And Burrow couldn’t be more excited.

“Sounds great,” Burrow said with an ear-to-ear grin.