beautiful mistake - joe burrow

91

The game didn't start well at first. The O-line didn't hold, Joe was sacked, blocked, and the Bengals didn't pose a threat, while the Chiefs put two touchdowns on the board right away to take a 14-0 lead.

But then there was a unique play. The Bengals were still in their own field at the 32-yard line on second down and had to go 7 yards to the new first down. Joe yelled his commands and got the ball while already simultaneously analyzing his surroundings.

He saw Ja'Marr, who was surrounded by three Chiefs, but they were all one to two yards away from him. The pass was perfect and as soon as Ja'Marr had the ball in his arms, he made a few hooks and sprinted off.

Elle was fascinated by the speed with which Ja'marr swept across the field, leaving one opponent after another behind him and suddenly standing all alone in the end zone. The stadium freaked out, Ja'marr let out a squeal of delight as he threw the ball wide with all his might, and Elle jumped in place, squealing as well.

"That was incredible, how many yards was that? 72?" Nick stared open-mouthed at the field where the boys high-fived and finally walked off the field. "Minimum. That...not everyone puts that down" Elle replied, clapping her hands in delight.

Evan's field goal sat and the first quarter ended 14-7. it was still all in, Elle thought to herself as the second quarter began.

The Chiefs opened the new quarter immediately with a touchdown, but the Bengals answered well and Ja'Marr scored his second touchdown of the game. Unfortunately, the euphoria didn't last too long as the Chiefs scored another touchdown in the very next drive.

The Bengals couldn't get past a field goal and so it went into halftime with an 11-point difference and a 17-28 score deficit.

But the third quarter started great. Again Joe and Ja'Marr combined for a touchdown, where Ja'Marr was again left almost alone and unimpeded to catch the ball and take it into the end zone.

"Let's go.Keep on going like this. Yes, man" Joe cheered on his teammates as he raised his fist in the air in triumph, grinning as he watched Elle bounce on the sidelines clapping before Nick pulled her into a happy hug.

Her joy on the sidelines were part of a great motivation, even if he tried to block her out as best he could, since she could also be a big distraction for him. But the occasional look at the end of a good play or after a touchdown, her cheering and joy were his drivers to do the same again the next time.

The third quarter ended with no more points scored, although both teams had good chances but were always stopped before a touchdown could be scored. With only a 5 point difference going into the final quarter, there was still a chance for the Bengals to turn the game in their favor.

Joe immediately opened the last quarter with a pass to Tee, taking the Bengals from their 34 yard line to the Chiefs 29 yard line. They continued to march ahead until they immediately scored a touchdown on first down and goal. Tyler Boyd. Finally, T.B. had a touchdown too!

"We're leading, Nick. I don't believe it. We're leading!" Elle yelled at her supervisor, grabbing him by the shoulders and squealing delightfully as she shook him. Nick grinned before his expression turned serious again.

"Just you wait and see. There's still a little time left on the clock" he tried to reassure her. Elle unfortunately had to agree with him. There were almost 12 minutes left until the game would be over and that was definitely enough time for Mahomes and his Chiefs to still score.

"I believe in my boys. They can do it" Elle shrugged. "Your boys or your boy?" Nick asked with a grin, nodding toward Joe, who was high-fiving his teammates before jogging to the sideline and pulling off his helmet.

Elle shrugged again with a grin. "Both" she then replied.

Suddenly, you could feel that even the fans didn't want to let this victory slip away. The stadium became loud, celebrating every little achievement even louder than before and giving the team what they needed. Support!

The chiefs, on the other hand, seemed to be getting nervous. They still got dangerously far into the Bengals' half, but the defense, driven by the fans, held up reasonably well.

Mahome's passes weren't coming in, there were no touchdowns, and in the end the Chiefs had no choice but to kick a field goal to at least tie the game at 31-31.

Joe was already hungry on the sidelines, helmet already on his head, ready to lead his team to victory. There were 6 minutes left on the clock. Enough time for the Bengals to score another touchdown.

Elle nervously kneaded her hands, while she would have liked to run to Joe, hug him tightly and whisper to him that he would make it without a doubt.

Nick seemed to notice Elle's desire and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "He feels your support. He knows you believe in him. He knows he will make it" he spoke to her. Elle smiled gratefully at him as she watched Joe run onto the court with his offense and fueled by the fans.

With a few problems, including a sack that catapulted Joe to the ground and a hold on the jersey so that Joe's name was pulled from the fabric (yes, that really happened and Joe no longer had a name on the jersey), the Bengals stood just a few yards from the end zone with two minutes left.

But they just couldn't make it....

Then it happened, fourth down, the bengals took a chance and played it out. Joe got the ball, an opponent ran at him, although Joe was able to throw the ball before he was knocked to the ground, the ball landed on the floor of the end zone without anyone getting it.

"Fuck, Joe" Elle could only see from a distance that Joe was holding his knee, the injured knee. In the background it was just announced that there was a foul and the Bengals got an automatically first down, while Elle just looked on worriedly as Joe limped off the field.

Even before Paul and Michael had gone to him, it was clear....for Joe it would go no further, Brandon would have to step in....

There were only two seconds left on the clock when Evan lined up for the field goal. If he scored, Cincinnati was the AFC North champion. If he missed, it would go into overtime.

Joe, meanwhile, was on the sidelines. You could tell how much it pissed him off not being able to finish the game, but if Evan scored now, he wouldn't care. He would ignore the pain and run onto the court. He would celebrate the victory, the division championship.

Elle crossed her fingers. Every muscle in her body was tense as she whispered softly to herself. "Come on, Evan, 20 yards. You've already hit more. Come on."

The images of the messed up game against the Packers flashed before her eyes. All the missed field goals...but she blocked them out. No, it wouldn't go that way this time. This time Evan would score.

She held her breath as the ball flew through the air and for a brief moment she was oblivious to anything around her. It wasn't until the sounds of the fans, the cheering, yelling, whistling, clapping, the joy, the volume of the entire Jungle filtered through to her that she realized what had just happened.

"We won. AFC North Champion" Nick snapped her out of her thoughts and pulled her tumultuously into his arms. He lifted her up and spun her in circles delightedly as chaos erupted around them.

The team ran onto the field to congratulate Evan and celebrate. The whole staff and coaches were in each other's arms full of joy. Zac looked like he wasn't sure he was dreaming it all.

"We did it Zac" Elle screamed into his ears against the noise of the fans as she hugged him around the neck overjoyed.

I'm sorry that the chapters are almost only game descriptions but we're now at a time where all the important games leading the Bengals to the Super Bowl happen and I wanted to included them to the story. I will skip a few games again but the other game against the Chiefs and the Super Bowl game will definitely be like this chapter again. I hope that's ok!

Thanks for all the support

WHO-DEY🧡