McPherson calls his game-winning kick, other takeaways from Bengals’ playoff win over Titans

Cincinnati advances to the AFC Championship, where it will face the Buffalo Bills or Kansas City Chiefs on the road Jan. 30. Here are five takeaways from the win:

1. “Ice in his veins”

Burrow said before McPherson was going onto the field to kick the game-winning field goal, he took a warmup swing and told backup quarterback Brandon Allen, “Eh, looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship.”

The rookie kicker delivered his fourth game-winner of the season, this one from 52 yards, as time expired.

“He’s got ice in his veins,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “There’s not much to be said. He’s as cool as it gets. You have confidence he’s going to nail it every single time he steps up there.”

McPherson also won the season opener against the Vikings that way and did it in a Thursday Night game against Jacksonville and in the AFC North-clinching win over the Chiefs. He was 4-for-4 against the Titans and is 8-for-8 in the playoffs.

“It’s a kicker’s dream to have the game on your shoulders and just to go out there and execute the way that we have in practice,” McPherson said. “It’s what I told Kevin (Huber) right before the kick. I’m like, ‘All right, we did this in practice, let’s do it one more time.’ That’s kind of what was going through my mind. And all I knew was, just hit it clean and it was going to get there.”

2. Defense won the game, again

McPherson earned the lone game ball Taylor handed out afterward, but the Bengals wouldn’t have had a chance to win it without big plays from the defense all game.

Jessie Bates set the tone with an interception on the first play from scrimmage, Mike Hilton picked off Ryan Tannehill in the redzone in the third quarter, and Logan Wilson had the final interception with 20 seconds left as the Titans were crossing midfield to try to win the game. That set up McPherson’s game-winner a week after Germaine Pratt’s fourth-down interception in the redzone sealed the victory in the playoff opener against Las Vegas.

After Cincinnati punted with less than three minutes left, Tennessee took its time moving the ball down the field with hopes of taking its first lead and not giving Burrow time to lead a comeback. On third-and-5 from the Titans’ 40-yard line, Tannehill attempted a short pass to Nick Westbooke-Ikhine, but Eli Apple tipped it and Wilson came down with it for his fifth interception of the season.

“We preach all week, we are trying to get the ball,” Wilson said. “Same thing last week with Germaine (Pratt). As many times as we can get the ball back to our offense and give them more opportunities to score, that’s just what we’re trying to do as a defense. And yards do not equal points. If you get a turnover, then they’re marching down the field, and Mike (Hilton) got the turnover in the red zone. Everyone thought they were going to score, but that turnover was huge. That’s just kind of been our mentality on defense.”

Credit: Mark Zaleski

Credit: Mark Zaleski

3. Burrow is a beast

No team has ever allowed nine sacks in a playoff game and still won (since the league began tracking sacks in 1982), but Burrow kept getting up after each hit and made plays in crunch time. His 19-yard pass to Ja’Marr Chase moved Cincinnati to the Titans’ 34-yard line, and after one timeout and one more run play, the Bengals let McPherson do his thing.

Chase said Burrow saw a pre-snap signal, most likely from the safeties, and knew exactly where he was going with the ball against the Cover-2. The defender jumped inside Chase and he was able to create separation and get open.

Burrow managed 348 yards passing for the game, despite taking the most sacks he has all season. The Chargers sacked him six times. Burrow said he was feeling fine physically but joked that might be a different story Sunday when he wakes up, but his teammates know how tough he’s been.

“Every week we go out there try to get the ball back to 9 (Joe Burrow),” defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. “That’s what we believe in as a team. That’s who we’re trying to get the ball to. No matter what’s going on with him, we’ll go out there and get the ball back to him. That’s our jobs. He’s the toughest guy in the league. He’s tough. Just gritty. Love it. I love that about him. He’s a super tough guy. He doesn’t complain. Goes out there does his job. I really appreciate Joe (Burrow).”

4. Handling Derrick Henry

The Titans managed 140 yards rushing, including a 45-yarder by D’Onta Foreman, but Derrick Henry didn’t have the monster game some might have expected.

In his first game back from foot surgery following a Week 8 injury, Henry finished with 62 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries, and he had just 19 yards in the fourth quarter when he typically has worn down opponents so much they can’t tackle him.

The Bengals most notably stopped him on a two-point conversion attempt and Wilson and Markus Bailey tackled him for a loss on a fourth-and-1 from the Cincinnati 35-yard line in the fourth quarter.

“They had a chance to go for it, and so that takes three points off the board,” Taylor said. “They could have kicked a field goal, could have gotten the first down and gotten three or seven. That’s a turnover that took points off the board. I’m proud of our defense for that stop.”

Credit: John Amis

Credit: John Amis

5. Drowning out the noise

The Bengals had never won a playoff game on the road, but on their eighth try in a hostile environment, they overcame the noise of the home crowd to get the victory.

Cincinnati had a large number of fans spread throughout the stadium, mostly in the upper decks, but Tennessee’s crowd was amped up, especially after the Titans rallied from a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game and as they were trying to close out for a win.

“It’s just you got to go out there and give it your all,” running back Joe Mixon said. “Can’t hold nothing back at this point. We’re in the playoffs. We’re in the AFC Championship, and we had a long year, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of adversity we went through and overcame. And I’m just so happy for, like I said, our players. And the boys, they come to work, they show up. … And we’re doing everything that we can, just go out there and put on for the city. Put on for our teammates and put on for the city of Cincinnati, all the fans. They showed up big tonight.

“I know they tried to limit our (ticket) count and whatnot and up the ticket prices. I’m just so happy for the fans because it’s been a drought here. And like I said, it’s already written. It’s written for us to go ahead and make this happen. And it’s no surprise to me. But at the same time it’s very emotional. So we’ve just got to keep on keeping on. That’s really the thing. Everybody is saying why not us. But we’re going to make it happen.”