Three days after Cincinnati Bengals rookie Evan McPherson kicked his team into the AFC championship game for the first time in three-plus decades, he filed a trademark application for the phrase "Money Mac." It's an appropriate nickname for the 22-year-old, as he's already made a career's worth of huge kicks in the past three weeks.
The lone kicker selected in the 2021 draft hasn't been afraid of big-moment pressure this postseason, and he proved it once again on Sunday, this time by drilling a 31-yard, game-winning field goal in Cincinnati's thrilling overtime win over the favored Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bengals are Super Bowl bound, and a title-starved city is celebrating like it's 1988.
"There's a good chance that the Bengals are going to have a Super Bowl ring here in the next couple of months," McPherson told The Zach Gelb Show on Monday. "This team is super confident in our abilities, and we're not going to L.A. for any other reason than winning. You can take it as you will. But I'm just saying that this team is going to be more motivated than anybody to go out there and win.
"I can [envision a championship-winning kick]. That'd be amazing, obviously, and it'd be a dream come true for me. But we'll see. I'd say, if it comes down to a field goal, great. But if we go out there and we win by three touchdowns, I'm even more ecstatic than ever. However we've got to get it done, I believe our team will go out there, get it done. If it comes down to a field goal, great. If not, that's even better."
Cincinnati's hopes of reaching Super Bowl 56 seemed all but squashed late in the second quarter, as they faced a daunting 18-point deficit and struggled to develop any sort of rhythm on offense. But a last-minute touchdown drive cut their deficit to 21-10, and all of Kansas City's momentum was lost right before halftime, after a botched red zone drive resulted in no points as time expired.
During the second half, the Bengals played championship-level defense. The unit limited the Chiefs to three total points, and star quarterback Joe Burrow orchestrated three clutch scoring drives to erase the huge deficit and take a 24-21 lead with six minutes to go. For the second straight week, Kansas City forced overtime with a game-tying field goal, but Cincinnati got the last laugh.
With a mammoth interception of Patrick Mahomes during their opening drive, the Bengals' offense then traveled 42 yards downfield, and set up McPherson for his walk-off kick. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the 18-point comeback is tied for the second-largest road comeback win in NFL postseason history, and if McPherson makes three more field goals, he'll break Adam Vinatieri's record of 14 in a single postseason.
Cincinnati will face the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56 on Feb. 13, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Bengals currently have a 32-percent chance to win their first championship in franchise history.
The entire conversation between McPherson and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.