{"id":28641,"date":"2025-01-24T00:40:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T00:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=28641"},"modified":"2025-01-24T00:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T00:40:37","slug":"kc-chiefs-buffalo-bills-renew-the-afcs-best-playoff-rivalry-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=28641","title":{"rendered":"KC Chiefs, Buffalo Bills Renew The AFC\u2019s Best Playoff Rivalry Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen looks for his first playoff victory against Kansas City on Sunday. … [+]<\/span> (AP Photo\/Adrian Kraus, File)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas City-Buffalo, the movable feast of NFL playoff rivalries, will take center stage again Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs and Bills will play in the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons in the AFC championship in Kansas City. No other teams have met as often this decade. None has been as frustrated as the Bills.<\/p>\n

The teams have split their eight games in the 2020s, with one defining difference \u2014 the Bills have won the last four in the regular-season and the Chiefs have won all three in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\n

Patrick Mahomes has won three straight postseason games against the Bills. (AP Photo\/Travis Heying)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs\u2019 chance for an historic Super Bowl three-peat hinges on a playoff four-peat over the Bills as they look to avenge a regular-season loss.<\/p>\n

Since perennial MVP contenders Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen first met in 2020, the match has featured multi-tasking quarterbacks, head coaches who have risen to the head of their class, and fan bases that consider freezing temperatures just another excuse to go shirtless.<\/p>\n

And tight finishes. Excruciatingly tight finishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always remember the feeling of not pulling through,\u201d Buffalo quarterback Allen said this week. \u201cIt sticks with you for awhile. It really doesn\u2019t leave. We\u2019re grateful to have another opportunity at it. It\u2019s another week we get to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bills know they can win. They have done it several times before. They have won the last three regular-season games at Arrowhead Stadium, and they handed the Chiefs their first loss this season when Allen turned a fourth-down gamble into a 26-yard touchdown scramble with 2:17 remaining for the decisive score in a 30-21 victory at Orchard Park on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo statement,\u201d Bills coach Sean McDermott said after that. \u201cThis is not the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

For one team, this will be the finish line.<\/p>\n

Something seems to shift in the playoffs, although the Chiefs\u2019 dominance should be considered relative.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at the games \u2026 every game is close,\u201d Kansas City quarterback Mahomes said this week. \u201cIt just comes down to a play here or there that usually makes an impact on the outcome.<\/p>\n

\n

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have combined for five touchdowns passes in the Chiefs’ three … [+]<\/span> playoff victories over Buffalo. (Photo by David Eulitt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey have great players at every level, both sides of the ball. They are well-coached. When you play great football teams like that, it kind of ends with that split there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams last met with the Super Bowl on the line in the AFC title game following the 2020 regular season, when the Chiefs rolled to 38-24 victory. The other two playoff meetings, both in the division round, have gone down to the wire.<\/p>\n

Past the wire, in the one game that will forever haunt the Bills Mafia.<\/p>\n

The recent playoff matchups:<\/p>\n

2020 AFC Championship Game<\/h2>\n

Arrowhead Stadium, Jan. 24, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Final:<\/strong> Chiefs 38, Bills 24<\/p>\n

Pointspread:<\/strong> Chiefs -3<\/p>\n

Mahomes passed for 325 yards passing and three touchdowns and the Chiefs outscored the Bills 38-6 from the second quarter until midway through the fourth to reach the Super Bowl. Chiefs\u2019 tight end Travis Kelce had 13 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\n

Josh Allen big day against Kansas City was not quite enough in the 2020 AFC championship game. … [+]<\/span> (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Allen was terrific, accounting for 375 yards in total offense with two touchdown passes, but his lone interception deep in Chiefs\u2019 territory early in the fourth quarter led to the Mahomes\u2019 second scoring pass to Kelce for a 38-16 lead with 7:36 left.<\/p>\n

Because of COVID restrictions, the crowd was only 16,993.<\/p>\n

2021 AFC Division Game<\/h2>\n

Arrowhead Stadium, Jan. 23, 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Final: <\/strong>Chiefs 42, Bills 36, overtime<\/p>\n

Pointspread:<\/strong> Chiefs -1 1\/2<\/p>\n

The Kansas City victory was one the most improbable in NFL playoff history. For fantastic finishes, only the Music City Miracle \u2014 the cross-field pass play that the Tennessee Titans used to beat Buffalo 22-16 as time expired in 2000 playoffs \u2014 is close. The Bills\u2019 double-whammy.<\/p>\n

It might have appeared as if the Chiefs were in trouble after Allen\u2019s 19-yard touchdown pass to Gabriel Davis \u2014 his fourth score of the game \u2014 gave the Bills a 36-33 led with 13 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

After the ensuing kickoff, the Chiefs had the ball on their 25-yard line with those 13 seconds and three timeouts remaining, about 45 yards from legitimate field goal range. Enter Mahomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it’s grim, be the grim reaper,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid told Mahomes.<\/p>\n

After two Mahomes completions, including a seemingly inexplicable 25-yard pass to wide open Kelce in the middle of the field, Harrison Butker made a game-tying 49-yard field goal as time expired.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs won the overtime coin toss, and Mahomes did the rest, finishing a 75-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Kelce in the only overtime possession. The Bills never got the ball because of overtime rules that since have been altered to allow each teams at least one possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt stings,\u201d Bills coach Sean McDermott said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat it. It stings.\u201d<\/p>\n

2023 AFC Division Game<\/h2>\n

Highmark Stadium, Jan. 27, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Final:<\/strong> Chiefs 27, Bills 24<\/p>\n

Pointspread:<\/strong> Bills -2 1\/2<\/p>\n

Mahomes threw two touchdown passes to old friend and Bills\u2019 nemesis Kelce as the Chiefs won their first true road playoff game in the Mahomes Era. Kelce has 26 catches for 289 yards and five touchdowns in three playoff games against the Bills.<\/p>\n

Allen had 260 yards total offense and three touchdowns, two rushing, and led the Bills on a 16-play drive that reached the Chiefs\u2019 26-yard line before he was forced out of the pocket on third-and-nine and threw an incomplete pass. Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field goal with 1:47 remaining that would have tied the game. Buffalo never got the ball back.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll-time classic again,\u201d Reid said.<\/p>\n

Chiefs in seventh straight AFC title game<\/h2>\n

The Chiefs are playing in their seventh consecutive AFC championship game, one short of the league record set by New England from 2011-18. With a victory, they would make the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six seasons after winning in 2019 and losing in 2020.<\/p>\n

The Bills won back-to-back American Football League titles in 1962-63 and are looking for their first Super Bowl appearance since 1993, the last of their fourth straight championship losses.<\/p>\n

\n

Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes share a clinch after the Bills’ snapped the Chiefs’ nine-game winning … [+]<\/span> streak in a 30-21 victory Nov. 17. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cObviously Patrick is one of the greatest to ever play the game,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThey control the ball extremely well. They don\u2019t make bad decisions. Going for a three-peat, and that\u2019s what everybody wants in this league, to have the sustained success that they have had. They play great situational football. They understand when it is time to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know who we are. We know who they are. It literally comes down to who executes well on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas city and Buffalo have split their last eight games, but the Chiefs have won all three of their playoff meetings since 2020 in the Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nKC Chiefs, Buffalo Bills Renew The AFC\u2019s Best Playoff Rivalry Sunday - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=28641\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KC Chiefs, Buffalo Bills Renew The AFC\u2019s Best Playoff Rivalry Sunday - 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