NFL
Sunday, the Chiefs can take a step closer to a historic Super Bowl three-peat. So why does it seem like the Bills have something even bigger at stake?
After winning 27-25 against the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round of the playoffs, Buffalo Bills players were calm, citing fundamentals. It was easy to mistake the scene for regular-season fare, not the aftermath of a down-to-the-wire victory against a top AFC opponent.
The Bills will play the Chiefs in Kansas City in the AFC championship game, a matchup they’ve been imagining since Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Co. knocked them out of the playoffs last year. The Chiefs are the hurdle the Bills can’t seem to get over – since Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes have played quarterback, Buffalo has never beaten Kansas City in the postseason, despite establishing itself as a top AFC contender.
In three of the past four seasons, Kansas City has ended Buffalo’s playoff run. The Bills can’t make snow angels on the field or linger in the locker room to celebrate, as they have yet to beat the Chiefs in the postseason. According to quarterback Josh Allen, “We know what they are. They’re the perennial of what you want to be in the NFL. You’ve got to beat them to get past them.”
Allen said the Bills are 4-1 against Mahomes in the regular season, but Mahomes is 3-0 in the playoffs. Allen has all the playoffs success, and he’s blocked Allen from making a Super Bowl in his first six seasons. In this era of the Chiefs dynasty, the Bills have stood for perpetual second-best.
The Ravens, with an elite young quarterback in Lamar Jackson, have won two MVPs and are a favorite (along with Allen) to win another. However, they’ve never had much success against Kansas City, either. Jackson is 1-4 against Mahomes in the regular season and 0-1 in the playoffs, the lone meeting coming in the AFC championship game last year.
The Bills have been the most consistent threat to the Chiefs’ supremacy, winning five straight AFC East titles. They’ve played close, hard games against the Chiefs in the playoffs, losing when Tyler Bass’s game-tying field goal attempt sailed wide last year, and after Mahomes’s 13-second game-tying drive two years before that.
The impression is that the one thing between this Bills team and true greatness is the Chiefs. Still, coach Sean McDermott said that those devastating losses wouldn’t psych his team out when it heads back to Kansas City. “The mindset is what it’s all about. These guys believe. You play to win, and you find a way. Every year is different.”