Find Out Who is ‘Playoff P’ And How He Helped Beat Chiefs

BENCH EMPTIER: Another game where the Bengals flexed their bench. On offense, the winning touchdown was scored by running back Chris Evans on his second snap of the game and his third catch of the season on an eight-yard touchdown.

And the last time Mahomes touched the ball came on third-and-three from the Bengals 33 with four minutes left when second-year back-up edge Joseph Ossai dumped him for his second NFL sack on a diving second-effort shoestring tackle on his 12th play of the game.

Huge. It not only bottled up Mahomes’ magic, but it made it a 55-yard field goal and Harrison Butker obliged with the miss.

If the alignment looked familiar, it’s because it looked just like the eight-man drop defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo used at the end of regulation of the AFC title game when the Bengals forced a field goal in the red zone. Left end Sam Hubbard became “the spy,” moving back off the line into the middle of the field mirroring Mahomes’ every move. The difference is the only member of the line that made the rush last Jan. 30 that resulted in Hubbard’s sack is tackle B.J. Hill.

With sack ace Trey Hendrickson gassed after a first down play he maniacally chased Mahomes all over the place and finally into the left sideline for an incompletion at the end of a night he was all-out for 71 percent of the plays. Ossai, who missed all of his rookie year last season with injuries, lined up on the right edge and rookie Zach Carter on the left edge with the veteran Hill in the middle.

“I’m happy I can give Trey that confidence,” Ossai said. “If he’s exhausted because he’s chasing Mahomes all over the field, he can come off and knows somebody can help out. He can come out for a play, catch his breath and come back in and keep doing what he does.”

Ossai ripped through the inside of a pretty good left tackle, Orlando Brown, and Mahomes had to step up to whirl away from Ossai. It looked like Mahomes was taking off for a scrambling first down, but Ossai came back with a diving…