KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's the dead of winter, meaning the weather in New England can be brutal. And that the Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl.
It took them overtime and more of Tom Brady's brilliance to get there -- for the third consecutive year. While the folks back home dealt with a frigid storm, Brady blew through Kansas City's exhausted defense on a 75-yard drive to Rex Burkhead's 2-yard touchdown run in a 37-31 victory Sunday for the AFC championship.
The drive, during which New England had three third-down conversions, was reminiscent of when the Patriots beat Atlanta in the only Super Bowl to go to overtime two years ago.
"Overtime, on the road against a great team," Brady said. "They had no quit. Neither did we. We played our best football at the end. I don't know, man, I'm tired. That was a hell of a game."
Awaiting them in Atlanta are the Los Angeles Rams, who won 26-23 in overtime in New Orleans for the NFC championship. The Rams last made the Super Bowl in 2002 while based in St. Louis, losing to the Patriots.
New England benefited from two critical replay reviews and made its ninth Super Bowl with Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as coach.
"This is crazy," said Brady, who was 30 of 46 for 348 yards. "What a game."
It's the first time both conference title games went to overtime. The last time both visitors won conference championship matches was 2012; New England was 3-5 on the road this season.
"We knew what our record was, but we didn't let that dictate us," said defensive end Trey Flowers (Arkansas Razorbacks), who led a staunch charge on Patrick Mahomes. "Whatever happened in the regular season happened. We came out and did it when it counted."
Several times, the Patriots appeared to have it won, only to see Kansas City come back.
Brady, at 41 already the oldest quarterback to have played in a Super Bowl, drove New England 65 yards in 1:24 to Burkhead's go-ahead 4-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left in regulation. That was enough, though, for his far younger counterpart, the 23-year-old All-Pro Mahomes, to take the Chiefs 48 yards to Harrison Butker's 39-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to force overtime.
It was a sizzling offensive showing in the fourth quarter after defense had been in charge most of the way. Indeed, the Chiefs were blanked in the opening half for the first time all season.
And they never saw the ball in overtime, which along with the two replay decisions might call into play NFL rules and officiating.
"I thought if we got the chance," Mahomes said, "we'd score."
Mahomes finished 16 of 31 for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns.
New England became the third franchise to reach three Super Bowls in a row after Miami and Buffalo. And Belichick now has 30 postseason victories, more than Bill Walsh and Don Shula combined. That Hall of Fame coaching duo also won five Super Bowls. Belichick shoots for No. 6 in two weeks.
An apparent muff by the usually reliable Julian Edelman on a fourth-quarter punt return was overturned by a lengthy video review, prompting raucous booing and some demonstrative arguing from the usually laid-back Andy Reid. Edelman definitely touched his next try when Brady's pass deflected off his hands directly to safety Daniel Sorensen. His 22-yard return set up Kansas City at the Patriots 23, and Damien Williams, who scored three times, had no defender near him down the left sideline for the score that made it 21-17, KC's first lead.
Back came Brady, engineering a 75-yard march on which Chris Hogan's diving one-handed catch on third down appeared to touch the ground. Reid challenged -- and lost.
Minutes later, rookie Sony Michel scored from the 10, his second touchdown of the night.
With 3½ minutes remaining, there was plenty of time for more points. Williams' 2-yard run gave the Chiefs a 28-24 edge that New England took up most of the remaining time overcoming. The Patriots were helped by an offside call on linebacker Dee Ford that negated an interception which would have clinched a Kansas City victory.
Butker's field goal sent it to overtime.
"We put ourselves in position to win the game, that's what makes it so tough," Reid said. "If it's a rout, you chalk it up to experience. But this one right here, where you're in it to win it, that's a tough deal. We gave ourselves every opportunity to do it, and they got us in overtime."
Sports on 01/21/2019