Again.
First there was 13 seconds. Then Tyler Bass’s miss, wide right. And now, this.
Once again, the Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl, after winning the AFC championship game on Sunday, 32-29. And once again, they’ve gotten there on the battered hopes and dreams of the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo, which has beaten Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the regular season more than any other team during the Mahomes era, lost once again in the playoffs to the team they just can’t beat.
Since 2020, the Bills are 0-4 in the postseason against Kansas City. It’s not likely to be much consolation that it’s only the second-most devastating 0-4 playoff record in franchise history. The season is over, the Chiefs ended it once again, and Buffalo has nothing left to do but sit with this latest heartbreak.
“It’s not fun,” said a tearful Josh Allen after the game. “But to be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs. And we didn’t do that.”
As one-sided as this would-be playoff rivalry is, the games have been anything but. And this one was another epic. There were seven lead changes, and Buffalo had the ball with a chance to score a go-ahead touchdown with 3:33 to go in the fourth quarter. They were that close. Which only makes it harder, and the moments these Bills and their fans will no doubt replay over and over in their heads more excruciating.
What moment will define this latest failure?
Is it the corner blitz, a diabolical call deployed at the perfect moment by Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo that sent Allen into a backpedaling heave on fourth-and-5 of what could have been the game-winning drive? Allen’s lob somehow managed to hit tight end Dalton Kincaid in the hands as he dove for it, but the ball hit the ground between his forearms, putting Kansas City back in control of the game.
Was it the turnover on downs in the fourth quarter, after Allen’s failed quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1? The call on the field was that Allen was just short. Replay made it look like Allen might have just gotten it over the line to gain, but the call was upheld. Either way, the Bills paid a steep price for their repeated inability to adjust to a Chiefs defense that came with a plan to stop Buffalo’s version of the Tush Push. Kansas City seemed to have the Bills’ snap count timed perfectly so that they could jump it, and they clearly keyed on Allen’s tendency to go over the left guard, which failed multiple times.
“It looked like he got to it,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. “It hurts. But the game comes down to inches.”
Was it the two failed two-point conversions? Attempting (and failing) to block Chris Jones one-on-one for most of the first half? There is plenty to stew over.
The Bills were still in it wire-to-wire. Their defense mostly struggled, especially once cornerback Christian Benford was injured in the first quarter and replacement Kaiir Elam was put into a major role, but made just enough plays to give the offense a chance at the end. It was defensive tackle Jordan Phillips whose sack of Mahomes on first-and-goal with 4:28 to play in a tie game helped force the Chiefs to settle for a field goal, giving Allen a shot.
Outside of their short-yardage difficulties, the run game powered Buffalo’s offense, much as it had throughout this postseason run. After a shaky first half, the Bills got on track with a 12-play touchdown drive on their first possession of the third quarter by calling all runs, save for one option play that became a pass to tight end Dawson Knox. Running back James Cook, who capped that drive with a spectacular diving touchdown, finished the game with 85 yards rushing, 49 receiving, two touchdowns, and an average of 6.5 yards per carry.
The Bills didn’t outplay the Chiefs. This isn’t one of those stories. Allen settled in, but he came out erratic, throwing two near-interceptions on the Bills’ opening drive. For most of the game, he and offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemed reluctant to test the Chiefs downfield. Brady’s failure to adjust the short-yardage plays was blatant. And Buffalo got lucky, in some senses. Bills players fumbled four times in the game but miraculously recovered all of them. Maybe they didn’t get all the breaks, or didn’t get enough of them, but they got their share. It was a close game, as they always seem to be when you play the Chiefs.
But that close game now goes down in history with the other close games that ended this exact same way, leaving the impression—or maybe the reality—that the overall contest here is not really close at all. Mahomes’s four wins over Allen are the most for any quarterback over another in NFL playoff history. According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is the first time in any five-season span that one team has eliminated another four times.
The Bills are on a phenomenal, sustained run of success. They have been a top-five team by point differential for five consecutive years. They have made it to at least the divisional round of the playoffs in each of those years. But, fair or not, teams are remembered for what they do in the postseason. A championship would validate this era. But that won’t happen this year.
Buffalo is not the only team waiting in line. The Ravens have the most wins in history over a seven-year stretch for a team that has not made the Super Bowl. Sometimes being a “playoff choker” is just a different way of saying you play in the same conference as a dynasty, though that doesn’t stop the label from sticking.
Mahomes is only 29. In two weeks’ time, he will have played in five Super Bowls in the eight years since the Chiefs drafted him. Tom Brady played in 10 in 23 years. This run by Kansas City is unprecedented, and if the Chiefs win another championship in New Orleans, they’ll be the only team in NFL history to three-peat. And, of course, they seem to be peaking at just the right time, just as they always do. The offense scored more than 30 points Sunday for the first time all season. Spagnuolo showed once again why he’s the best at what he does in big-game situations. Kansas City knew Buffalo’s tells, and they made the plays they needed to.
It has become cliché to call the Chiefs inevitable. But for Buffalo, what else is there to believe?
