Kansas City Chiefs fall 37-31 against the New England Patriots

The Kansas City Chiefs lost 37-31 against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Patriots drove 75 yards down the field in 13 plays to score the winning touchdown during overtime that won the game for them. The Patriots running back, Rex Burkhead, scored the game-winning touchdown on a 2-yard run. This will be the Patriots third year in a row at the Super Bowl and an NFL-record fifth time in eight years.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes helped the the team back from a 14-0 shutout during the first half. The team quickly rebooted going into the second half, second half, scoring a touchdown early in the third quarter and later scoring another with a total of 31 points in the second half including the field goal that tied the game.

The Patriots won the coin toss and after a few incomplete passes, they were in the end zone and scored the game-winning touchdown that would send Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, to the Super Bowl for the ninth time in his 18 seasons in the NFL so far.

Throughout the game, there were, according to junior Brooklyn Beck, some questionable calls made. In the fourth quarter, there was a roughing the passer penalty that lost the Chiefs 15 yards.

“Once the refs called the first few plays in the Patriots’ favor I expected them to call everything in their favor because they’re the Patriots,” Beck said. “I was pretty disappointed as was the rest of the stadium, everyone was going crazy after each call.”

While four penalties adding to a total of 28 yards were called on the Chiefs in the game, the Patriots faced a few harsh calls during the second half with a total of 6 penalties for 61 yards. A call made against the Patriots in the fourth quarter, which included a pass interference and a defensive holding call, cost the Patriots over 20 yards. Junior Ruby Taylor is a Patriots fan and stands by the referees’ calls throughout the game.

“I think there is nothing you can do, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t,” Taylor said. “However, if it benefits your team, you are going to complain. I think that although the calls were controversial, they were the fair calls.”

According to Beck, after the Patriots game-winning touchdown, the energy in the stadium died and everyone left their seats. She had heard many fans talking about going to the Super Bowl during the second half and everyone in the crowd was pretty fired up after the Chiefs tied up the game.

“I was really disappointed about the outcome of the game because I was really looking forward to next weekend,” Beck said. “I was really hopeful that they would pull though at overtime, but I was also excited that they had such a great season and I’m looking forward to the next season because I think they’re going to be just as good.”

The Patriots will be facing off against the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 3 at Super Bowl LII.