A case in point was the AFC Conference Championship game, won by the Bengals 27-24 in overtime. One can say anything they like about Patrick Mahomes, but the stats (and the film) do not lie. In the first half, in which Kansas City built a 21-3 lead and could have been more if Mahomes didn't kill it, throwing a pass to McKinnon that had no chance to score inbounds inside the five with five seconds left. The Chiefs were out of time outs, and the clock ran out so KC got nothing when normally they'd at least kick a field goal. They were killing the Bengals. Mahomes even tried to call time out at the end of that play, like he didn't know the Chiefs were out of them. That was some good acting there.

In that first half, Mahomes was 19-for-21, with three touchdowns and no picks. In the second half, he was 2-for-10 until going 5-5 on the final drive, which tied the game (normally, the Chiefs would have won it), but Mahomes was sacked four times in the second half, including twice at goal-to-go at the end of the game. He even fumbled on third down, but a lineman recovered it. The Chiefs kicked a field goal and the game went into overtime.

The Chiefs won the toss, got the ball and Mahomes threw two passes to Demarcus Robinson, the weakest receiver on the squad and to whom Mahomes had only thrown to once in regulation. That pass was picked off by Cincy's B.J.Hill, enabling Cincinnati to tie the score. Both of the two passes in overtime were nearly picked off. Then, on 3rd down, Mahomes lobbed a pass out in the direction of Tyreek Hill, which Vonn Bell intercepted.

The Bengals drove the ball a short distance and kicked the winning field goal, 27-24.

So, Mahomes sparkled in the first half (19-21, 3 TDs), but his second half and overtime was probably the worst of his career (7-for-18, 2 interceptions, 4 sacks) Without the five straight completions on the final drive in regulation, Mahomes was 2-for-13. Yeah, sure. The only questions are how much was he paid or did he just get the tap on the shoulder and the whisper, "lose the game and we won't kill your kids?"

You can decide for yourself, but I know what I saw. One of the best quarterbacks in the league, if not the best, looked like a high schooler in the second half.

Will the Super Bowl be fixed? Probably. There's a good case to be made that the last six games were all fixed, so why not. America has a fake president, we've been through two years of a fake virus panic, there's fake news all the time, fake boobs, fake hair, fake foods, fake stock markets and just about fake everything, so why not fake sports?

With the line at -4 for the Rams, it makes sense to take the Rams straight up, but the Bengals with the points because there's more money being bet on the Bengals to win outright (money line), but the Rams are being bet on the spread line. It's not logical, but sports betting usually isn't. Put your last dollar on the under also because a ton of money is going on the over (people like lots of scoring, but bookies don't like to lose money).

With that, good luck, I'm out.

Peace,

Fearless Rick

Coin Flip: Los Angeles

Prediction: Rams 24 Bengals 21