Just kicking it: Rookie ‘Money Mac’ has Bengals believing

LOS ANGELES — Making a game-winning field goal in the last seconds of an NFL playoff game is the kind of moment every kicker dreams about growing up.

Evan McPherson has done it twice in his rookie season to help propel the Cincinnati Bengals into a Super Bowl matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.

He hopes he doesn’t have to make it three straight when they take the field on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

“Hopefully I’m just kicking a bunch of PATs,” he said. “I wouldn’t be mad about that at all.”

But if the fifth-round draft pick out of Florida is called upon, he’s more than ready. McPherson said most of the work has been done before his foot ever strikes the ball.

“You kind of just have to have (confidence) as a kicker,” he said. “It comes from doing it so long and so much. I’ve kicked so many balls and put in so much work. I feel like if you’re confident you’re going to hit the kick there’s a better chance of it going in … You really have to walk out there and know in your mind there’s no way you can miss a kick.”

He hasn’t in the postseason.

McPherson is picking up points in bulk, connecting on all 12 attempts this postseason to put him within two field goals of tying Adam Vinatieri’s record of 14 in a single season. He has also made four field goals in each of the three playoff games and is the only player to enter the Super Bowl with 40 points scored in a single postseason.

But it’s the game-winners against the Titans in the divisional round and the Chiefs in the AFC championship game that has McPherson as a trendy choice in the betting markets to win the MVP in the Super Bowl.

The spotlight doesn’t seem to affect the 22-year-old Alabama native, who has made five game-winning field goals as a rookie.

His crunch-time performances have been more high profile in the postseason, but he’s not treating them any differently.

“The stages might be bigger and the lights might be brighter,” he said. “But when we’re on the field, it’s the exact same kick.”

Perhaps that’s why “Money Mac” has been a consistently trending topic throughout the playoffs, so much so that McPherson filed a trademark application for the nickname.

He is entering rarified air as a breakout star at a position that typically gets attention only when things go wrong.

Teammate Ja’Marr Chase hasn’t seen that happen too often.

“His confidence is so high,” Chase said. “I’ve seen him kick some stuff at practice and do some stuff in the game where it’s not even to the uprights yet and he’s already celebrating.”

Of course, that famously backfired in a game against the Packers this season when McPherson thought he had made a game-winner and celebrated on the field before realizing it was no good.

McPherson missed two kicks that day, but has connected on 35 of 37 since that blunder.

“I think you learn from your misses more than your makes and you definitely learn from moments like those,” he said.

McPherson, the only kicker selected in the 2021 draft, has consistently come through when he’s been most needed, including in the win over the Titans when he calmly walked up to quarterback Joe Burrow as he took the field to attempt the 52-yard game-winner and told the quarterback, “Looks like we’re going to the AFC championship game.”

He was right. Then he made the 31-yarder in overtime against the Chiefs a week later.

McPherson knows every opportunity he gets at this stage of the season could be his last, so he doesn’t want to let them get away.

“Being a specialist, you’re kind of like a sniper,” he said. “You get one shot and one kill. It’s really cut and dry. You either make the kick or miss it. It doesn’t matter if the crowd noise is at record decibels, you have this one shot, that’s it, all eyes are on you, and you have to make it.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.