The Sports Report: Super Bowl is set: Chiefs vs. Eagles

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Sam Farmer: The Philadelphia Eagles are headed back to the Super Bowl.

The San Francisco 49ers were in trouble from the start.

An NFC championship game that was supposed to test the mettle of 49ers sensation Brock Purdy instead went off the rails almost immediately when the rookie quarterback was sidelined on his opening possession with an injured throwing elbow.

It was only a matter of time before the top-seeded Eagles took control, which they eventually did on their way to a 31-7 victory at a chilly but not frigid Lincoln Financial Field.

The 49ers were a mess Sunday at the most important position, replacing Purdy with Josh Johnson until that well-traveled journeyman — the team’s fourth quarterback of the season — left the game for good in the third quarter with a concussion.

With running back Christian McCaffrey the next option at emergency quarterback, Purdy re-entered the game but largely was relegated to handing off.

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From Gary Klein: The Kansas City Chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl.

Harrison Butker kicked a 45-yard field goal with three seconds left as the Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, on Sunday in the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium, earning their third trip the Super Bowl in four years.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid is his 10th season in Kansas City after 14 with the Eagles, who he led to the Super Bowl in 2004.

Reid led the Chiefs to victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in Miami to end the 2019 season. The Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl the next season but lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes engineered the game-winning drive in the final 30 seconds, with an assist from Bengals linebacker Joseph Ossai, who was called for unnecessary roughness for a late hit on Mahomes.

Mahomes, playing on an injured right ankle, completed 29 of 43 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns.

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NFL PLAYOFF RESULTS, SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
Conference championship
Sunday

Philadelphia 31, San Francisco 7
Kansas City 23, Cincinnati 20

Super Bowl
Sunday, February 12
at Glendale, Ariz.
Philadelphia vs. Kansas City, 3:30 p.m., Fox

SUPER BOWL POLL

We will win the Super Bowl? Click here to vote.

Super Bowl LVII: Start time, odds and halftime show

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: Anthony Davis sat in his chair in a quiet and disappointed Lakers locker room, a towel over his shoulders, his ire about the officials coming out very strong. The normally low-key forward was unafraid to bash the referees on a night when the Lakers were sure they came out on the wrong end of calls Saturday night against the rival Boston Celtics.

The no-call on LeBron James’ drive to the basket at the end of the fourth quarter was the most upsetting aspect for Davis and the Lakers in a 125-121 overtime loss.

“He fouled him. He fouled him. Clearly. Clearly,� said Davis, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds in his second game back from injury. “It’s bull—. But at the end of the day, like, it’s unacceptable. And I guarantee nothing is gonna happen to the refs. … It’s not fair. And I guarantee that if the refs started getting fined for missed calls, it’d be a lot better.

“We got cheated tonight, honestly. It’s a blatant foul. Pat [Beverley] got all ball on I think Brown — Jaylen Brown. They call a foul. And Bron gets smacked across the arm [and they don’t]. It’s unacceptable, to be honest. The refs were bad. They were bad tonight.�

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LeBron James, Anthony Davis to sit out Monday’s game

CLIPPERS

Cedi Osman tied his career high with 29 points while making all seven of his shots from behind the arc and the Cleveland Cavaliers built a 40-point lead on their way to a 122-99 rout of the Clippers on Sunday night.

All-Star starter Donovan Mitchell had 11 points in his return for Cleveland after missing three games with a strained groin. The Cavaliers never trailed adn took their largest lead of the season at 82-42 on Jarrett Allen’s first three-pointer since Nov. 5, 2021.

The Clippers had won five in a row. They opted not to dress forward Kawhi Leonard and guards Paul George and Reggie Jackson, all of whom played Saturday in a victory in Atlanta. Officially, George and Leonard were reported as being out because of right knee trouble and Jackson has a sore right Achilles.

UCLA BASKETBALL

Alissa Pili drove to the rim for a go-ahead layup with 0.8 seconds left to give No. 9 Utah a 71-69 win over No. 8 UCLA on Sunday.

Pili scored 23 points and had nine rebounds to lead Utah (18-2, 8-2 Pac-12), which rallied twice and closed the game on a 7-0 run. Issy Palmer tallied 14 points and five assists for the Utes, and Dasia Young chipped in 11 points.

Utah trailed for a total of 30 minutes before holding the Bruins scoreless over the final 68 seconds.

USC BASKETBALL

Destiny Littleton scored 21 points, Rayah Marshall and Kadi Sissoko had double-doubles, and USC defeated No. 25 Colorado 71-54 on Sunday.

Marshall had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Sissoko added 18 and 12, and Littleton made six of 13 three-pointers, four of them in a key third-quarter surge that put the Trojans (16-5, 6-4 Pac-12) in command.

In the third quarter, the Trojans matched their first-half output, scoring 26 points to take a 52-41 lead into the fourth quarter. Littleton scored 12 points in the quarter on 4-of-7 three-point shooting. USC added the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up 58-41 with 8:55 remaining and the Trojans led by at least 13 points the rest of the way.

DIPLOMACY

From Kevin Baxter: When U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited the Middle East last fall, he didn’t go there just to talk about oil and natural gas, terrorism or the war in Ukraine.

He also went there to talk about soccer.

Before the U.S. national team’s World Cup opener in Qatar, Blinken joined representatives of the American squad and dozens of young Qatari boys and girls for a soccer clinic, where he talked about one of the most useful implements in his diplomatic tool box: sports.

“We use sports as a way of connecting people, connecting people to our country. Whenever I go around the world — whatever, again, our differences may be — sports brings us together, unites us, connects us,� he said.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1926 — The major league rules committee mandates that pitchers must have access to a rosin bag.

1971 — UCLA starts its 88-game winning streak with a 74-61 win over UC Santa Barbara.

1983 — John Riggins rushes for a Super Bowl-record 166 yards on 38 carries to spark the Washington Redskins to a comeback 27-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins. For Riggins, the game’s MVP, it’s his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game during the playoffs, also a record.

1992 — Jockey Mike Smith wins six races in one day at Aqueduct for the second time in the month. His first six-winner day at Aqueduct was on Jan. 13.

1993 — Monica Seles beats Steffi Graf 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to capture her third straight Australian Open.

1994 — The Dallas Cowboys, behind MVP Emmitt Smith and safety James Washington, beat Buffalo 30-13 for their second straight NFL title while giving the Bills four straight Super Bowl losses.

1996 — Magic Johnson finishes with 19 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the Lakers’ 128-118 victory over Golden State. It is Johnson’s first regular-season game back from a 4 1/2-season retirement.

1999 — Martina Hingis wins her fifth Grand Slam title and third straight Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over France’s Amelie Mauresmo.

2001 — Daron Rahlves wins the super giant slalom, the first American to capture the event at the world championships.

2006 — Teemu Selanne scores two goals for his 1,000th career point in Anaheim’s 4-3 overtime victory against the Kings.

2010 — Serena Williams ends Justine Henin’s hopes of a Grand Slam title in her return from retirement with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory in the Australian Open final.

2011 — MVP DeAngelo Hall has one of his team’s five interceptions and returns a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown to help the NFC match a Pro Bowl scoring record in a 55-41 victory over the AFC. AFC quarterbacks Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Matt Cassel each throw first-half interceptions to help the NFC blow open a 42-0 lead.

2011 — Loui Eriksson’s second goal, an empty-netter at 18:49 of the third period, helps seal an 11-10 victory for Team Lidstrom against Team Staal in the NHL All-Star Game.

2015 — The Phoenix Open continues without Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The biggest shock is Woods, who bogeys on his last hole for an 82, the worst score in his two decades as a pro. Mickelson shoots 76 and misses the cut by two shots.

2016 — Angelique Kerber upsets Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open title, ending the six-time champion’s unbeaten streak in finals at Melbourne Park.

2022 - Australian Open: Rafael Nadal wins record 21st Grand Slam singles title with an epic 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win over Daniil Medvedev of Russia

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Teemu Selanne gets his 1,000th point. Watch and listen here.