The Bengals were a stop or two away from forcing overtime when Joseph Ossai made as costly a mistake as one can make.
The Cincinnati defensive end was penalised for a late hit on Patrick Mahomes as the Chiefs quarterback ran out of bounds near the Bengals’ 40-yard line with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter and the score tied 20-20.
While Mahomes picked up a first down, the Chiefs had zero time-outs remaining and would’ve had one chance for a quick play before attempting a long field goal.
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Week 17
“Oh, it aches, trust me, to be this close to … Our goal is to win the Super Bowl, so to be seconds away from getting back there and watching them celebrate, it’s horrible,” Taylor said.
“Because this team has invested so much in each other to get to this point, and you know we’ve been playing playoff football since Halloween, we just didn’t know it.”
Ossai, 22, was a third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Texas.
The Nigeria native missed the 2021 season with a knee injury.
He had 3.5 sacks during the 2022 regular season and finished Sunday’s game with five tackles, including one for a loss, and two quarterback hits.
This article initially appeared on The New York Post and was republished with permission.
