KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The dominant storyline all week had been how the AFC championship game represented a passing of the torch, from Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes and the New England Patriots to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Must have lit a fire under the Pats.
The team that has been there, done that and done it again and again survived a back-and-forth fourth quarter to beat the Chiefs 37-31 in overtime Sunday night. Brady hit trusty targets Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski to convert a trio of third-and-10s against one of the NFLs worst defenses, and Rex Burkhead plunged in from 2 yards out to send the Patriots to their third straight Super Bowl.
Mahomes and the leagues highest-scoring offense never got a shot with the ball in overtime.
The Patriots will face the Los Angeles Rams, who survived their own overtime thriller earlier in the day against the New Orleans Saints, for the Lombardi Trophy in Atlanta.