Chiefs beat Ravens to reach fourth Super Bowl in last five seasons
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz reacts to Kansas City’s 17-10 win over Baltimore and discusses how the Chiefs dynasty wrecked the Ravens season.
Video Transcript
JASON FITZ: There was plenty of bad blood between the Ravens and the Chiefs, but karma seems to always be on Kansas City's side because the end game has the Chiefs back in the Super Bowl. Part of this is because Travis Kelce was fearless and unstoppable in every possible way. OK, I'll stop with the Taylor Swift references, but we won't stop talking about how great Kansas City was in this football game.
From the outset, it was clear that Kansas City was going to be comfortable taking whatever the Ravens would give them, which meant long time of possessions on short passes throughout the course of the first half. The Chiefs were able to jump out to a dominant lead because, frankly, their defense also held up.
Lamar Jackson was a shell of what we've seen throughout the course of the year. And the Ravens got in their own way. Their only touchdown came from busted coverage on a long amazing play by Lamar for the rest of the game. It felt like the Ravens were basically invisible. In fact, we'll remember Baltimore in this game more for the penalties and the turnovers than we will for anything that they did the rest of the year.
Three turnovers for only the second time all season. Two fumbles and an interception that was absolutely regrettable. And it felt like in the second half, every time Baltimore was putting themselves back into the situation to be competitive in this game, they found a way to blow it. Look no further than Zay Flowers having his first fumble of his entire career in the NFL, in this game as he's diving into the end zone.
That's only minutes after Zay Flowers catches a beautiful pass that turns into a massive play, that ends with a taunting penalty where he lost his cool, standing over the Chiefs defender. Those sorts of moments roughing the passer calls, unnecessary roughness calls. It felt like throughout the course of the game, the Chiefs were in the Ravens' head.
And now, Kansas City, this version of the Chiefs-- a version we have doubted all year long is headed to Vegas to play in the Super Bowl. For all the questions there have been throughout the course of the season about the Chiefs offense, let's remember this Chiefs defense has been consistent and special.
And oh, by the way, consistent and special are also ways that we can describe not only Patrick Mahomes, but his relationship with Travis Kelce. We were reminded that for every question we have about the Chiefs, there's a simple answer when you've got Andy Reid as your head coach and Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback.
In the meantime, the Ravens will have to go back to the drawing board like so many teams in the AFC and figure out what can change next year because as long as you're taking on the juggernaut known as the Chiefs, you're always going to be fighting an uphill battle. Congratulations to Kansas City headed to the Super Bowl.