Bills vs. Chiefs
After seeing the GOAT fall out of the postseason and into a period of uncertainty, attention quickly shifted to the second game of the Sunday slate. An AFC divisional round game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The primetime stage not only featured a rematch of last year’s AFC championship game between the two squads, it was also the renewal of an anticipated duel between two quarterbacks already solidifying their legacy as some of the greatest talents to play in this current era. With a chance to host the conference title game on the line, both players added to their resumes by delivering rapidly exchanged blows in the fourth quarter and one of the most thrilling postseason football games in recent memory.
In the first quarters from Arrowhead Stadium, the Bills and Chiefs were engaged in a deadlocked battle as both teams reciprocated the other’s scoring. At the 8:55 mark of the fourth quarter, it was a 23-21 affair before a 28-yard field goal by Harrison Butker increased Kansas City’s lead to five points and began to turn the outcome in their favor. The script appeared to be repeating itself on the Bills who fell in dramatic fashion on the same field almost year one earlier.
That was, until Buffalo, led by rising star quarterback Josh Allen, turned on the offensive jets to ignite the start of an insanity-laced offensive display down the final stretch of the fourth quarter.
The madness began at their own 25, as the Bills marched 17 plays and 75 yards in a drive spanning 7 minutes of game clock. With the game approaching the two-minute warning, the Bills had already overcome one fourth down conversion only to find themselves facing another pivotal one three plays later. Unphased by the season on the line, Allen darted a 27 yard beauty to Gabriel Davis for the touchdown and 29-26 Buffalo lead with 1:54 remaining.
The score sent the Buffalo faithful inside Arrowhead into a complete raucous frenzy but the Chiefs never wavered from their focus. With an offense as fast and multi-dimensional as theirs, and a masterful quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, they know the score could change a few more times.
It did, four more times to be exact.
Receiving the ball at their own 25, the Chiefs only needed 7 plays and 52 seconds to match 75 yards to the endzone and return the touchdown on Buffalo—a 64 yard catch and run by Tyreek Hill—and steal back the lead, 33-29, with 1:02 remaining.
Forty nine seconds later, the Bills seemingly ripped victory out of the jaws of defeat with another score of their own. Allen connected with Davis (8 receptions, 201 yards) from 19 yards out for the receivers fourth score of the day and the Bills fifth touchdown to go back up 36-33 with 13 seconds left in regulation. After seeing the victory leave their grasp once, it finally felt real that Buffalo was going to take down their Goliath in Kansas City and host an AFC championship game at Orchard Park.
However, the Chiefs had no intentions of backing down to close out their season, and 13 seconds turned out to be all they needed to extend it. Head coach Andy Reid pulled his quarterback aside before the drive started and told him to “be the grim reaper” when times are grim.
Mahomes heeded that advice and once again stole the moment right from the Bills’ hands, leading his offense 44 yards in the remaining time with 19 and 31 yard passes to Hill and Travis Kelce, respectively. The two plays set up kicker Harrison Butker for a 49-yard attempt which was perfect down the middle and it was 36-36 and overtime football.
In the overtime coin toss, the Chiefs won and elected to receive and at that moment the momentum felt like it swung in their direction. Many predicted the game to come down to which team had the ball last at the right time, and to the ire of Bills fans Kansas City made that prediction reality on the opening drive.
Mahomes commanded the offense 67 yards on the first seven plays of the drive, connecting with five different receivers and three for receptions of 15 or more yards, to get the Chiefs knocking on the door at the Buffalo 8-yard line. With his adversary in Allen watching on as another unfathomable defeat loomed, Mahomes took his reaper’s sickle and put the finishing jab on the Bills’ season, throwing to the corner of the endzone and finding the trusty Kelce on a corner route for the game-sealing touchdown.
Reluctantly, after four back to back scores and a total of 25 points amassed by the two sides in under two minutes, there was finally a winner and for the fourth straight season the Chiefs were onto the AFC Championship game in their own building. Buffalo, on the other hand, had to once again walk off the field with their Super Bowl dreams crushed by the team that took them away one year prior.
Josh Allen, seeing his 27 completion, 329 yards, and four touchdown performance and one of the best of his career go fruitless, couldn’t manage to move an inch from his seat along the sidelines as the two teams exchanged handshakes. Instead, he just idle in his spot, dazing off with a look on his face that didn’t even begin to accurately characterize the dejection that consumed him and his teammates.
“It felt like whoever had the ball last was going to win the game,” Bills center Mitch Morse said. “We just ended up on the wrong side of maybe one of the greatest games in postseason history.
“The game came down to, pretty much, 13 seconds,” coach Sean McDermott added. “I think they all feel the same way I do; we’re all sick to (our) stomach and it hurts. We worked really hard to get here,”
Truly they did. The Bills fought all season long to stay in the race with the New England Patriots for the AFC East division crown, ultimately beating them twice in the regular season to claim it and then again in the Wild Card to advance to the second round. They had the fifth-best offense in the league averaging 28.4 points and 381 yards of total offense, and their living was made off their defense ranked best in numerous categories including third-down defense.
It was another incredible season that ended with an 11-6 record and one of the greatest playoff performances seen since the Bills went to four straight championship games behind Jim Kelly in the 90’s. Yet, none of it was enough to stifle the Chiefs’ supernatural offense in the big moments, and like Kelly’s squads, this year’s team is left to stare at an empty trophy case while pondering what could have been with such a uniquely pieced together roster and one of the most successful front offices in the last decade.
Divisional Round Weekend was one for the NFL playoffs record books and certainly made up for an unconvincing Wild Card round that made fans everywhere question the legitimacy of the extended playoff field. For one not to be left mentally exhausted from the hours of insanity that consumed their Sunday afternoon viewing means they must know there is even better football ahead of us with the league shifting closer to Super Bowl 56 in Los Angeles on Feb. 13th.
Until the final four teams square off next Sunday to decide who will advance to that stage, let’s hope that is a possibility and that we are gifted with more unforgettable performances for the ages.
