Sadly, we had to see either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Buffalo Bills lose in the Divisional Round. Each team played well enough to be deserving of a Conference Championship appearance, but in the end, it was the Chiefs that pulled off the 42-36 win.
With two minutes left, the Bills scored and converted on a two-point conversion to take a three-point lead. Knowing Patrick Mahomes and this Kansas City offense, they scored with one minute left to regain their own lead. Josh Allen and company marched right back down and scored another touchdown, this time with 13 seconds left on the clock. Somehow, Mahomes marched down the field with 13 seconds and two timeouts and they kicked a game tying field goal. The Chiefs won the coin toss in overtime and quickly won the game on that opening drive.
Chiefs Can’t Stop Winning
The Chiefs have been so good for the last few years now that this isn’t even that surprising. Mahomes threw for 378 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also led the team in rushing with 69 yards and a touchdown. As for the rest of their backfield, it was a group effort. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 60 yards, Mecole Hardman had 31 and a touchdown and Jerick McKinnon had 24.
In the receiving game, Tyreek Hill dominated with 11 receptions, 150 yards and a touchdown. Travis Kelce was obviously right behind him with eight catches for 96 yards and another touchdown.
Finally, their defense was horrible. They had two sacks early on and started strong with a forced fumble but just got worse down the stretch. Allen lit them up the entire game, and despite pulling away with a win, the Chiefs defense has some work to do. Otherwise, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals could light them up again.
Bills Will Be Back
Josh Allen really deserved to win this game. Throughout this playoff run, he has only had about two more incompletions than he does total touchdowns, which is just insane to think about. In this game, he had 329 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also had 11 rushes for 68 yards.
It was a passing game for sure here, with Devin Singletary only taking 10 carries for 26 yards. In the receiving category, Stefon Diggs was nowhere to be found outside of a stellar catch on a two-point conversion. Diggs had three receptions for seven yards total. Gabriel Davis on the other hand had eight receptions for 201 yards and four touchdowns, a postseason record.
Defensively, this team needs to change. Whether it was ridiculously poor play calling or these players being scared of the moment, something happened at the end of regulation. Nobody should allow a field goal with 13 seconds left in the game. Especially not the number one ranked defense in football. A unit that has been consistently good all season long. It was like they were afraid of Mahomes dicing them up, so instead of playing with confidence they backed up and let him slash through them.
Buffalo has some time to think about their future. Their offense is phenomenal, it’s that defense that might need some tweaking. Maybe even their coaching could take an adjustment.
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