The Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles both ended their seasons the same way.

With a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

And they both have the same sour taste in their mouth for the same reason.

Cincinnati and Philadelphia both saw their seasons end without a celebration in large part because of poor officiating.

The poor officiating in the Bengals' loss to the Chiefs has been well-documented.

From an extra third down to a missed block in the back to a very questionable roughing the passer call, it felt like Kansas City got the benefit of every questionable call in the AFC Championship game.

And it likely cost the Bengals a win.

On Sunday night, the Eagles were the victims of an even more egregious call.

On third-and-eight, with less than two minutes remaining in the game and the score tied, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was forced to throw the ball away, seemingly leaving Kansas City with a field goal attempt and the Eagles with plenty of time.

But after the pass fell incomplete, Fox play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt noted that there was a flag on the play.

The Eagles were called for defensive holding.

And it was the definition of "ticky-tack".

Holding? pic.twitter.com/i1R0HpXct9

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 13, 2023

That penalty gave the Chiefs a new set of downs and essentially allowed them to run the clock almost all the way down and kick the game-winning field goal.

Philadelphia got the ball back with less than 10 seconds to go and they could only manage a desperation heave that fell incomplete.

It's going to be a long off-season for both teams. But there's no doubt the Bengals and the Eagles will have plenty of motivation entering 2023 — they both know they'll have to give it a little more in 2023 to overcome the Chiefs' lucky horseshoe they seem to have tucked away.

Featured image via Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports