The Bills and Chiefs have played each other seven times in the past four years, creating a fierce rivalry. Kansas City safety Justin Reid shared that the Super Bowl champions expect to face Buffalo twice a year—once in the regular season and once in the playoffs.
So, the Chiefs focus on the Bills during the offseason, studying their offense and defense with the postseason in mind. This strategy seems to be working, as although the Bills have won all four regular season games and handed the Chiefs one of their two losses this season, Kansas City has won all three postseason matchups.
The Chiefs will try to repeat their success on Sunday night, aiming for their third straight Super Bowl win, while the Bills hope to break their postseason slump and finally defeat Kansas City for the AFC Championship.
“You always remember the feeling of not pulling through. That sticks with you for a while, and it really doesn’t leave,” said Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen. “But again, I think every year you go through in this league, you learn more things about yourself, about your team, about the game of football. We’re just grateful and humbled to have another opportunity at it.”
The Bills and Chiefs have met so often due to the star power on both teams. Josh Allen might win his first MVP this season, while Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes already has two MVP awards.
Buffalo has key players like James Cook, Amari Cooper, Gregory Rousseau, and Von Miller, while the Chiefs feature stars like Travis Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, Chris Jones, and Trent McDuffie. You can also expect Taylor Swift to be in a luxury suite.
“I don’t think anyone is making this too big of a moment. Everybody knows how big it is,” said Mahomes, who is 4-2 in AFC title games, with both losses coming in overtime. “But at the same time, we have to go about our process.”
The Bills, who haven’t been to the Super Bowl since losing to the Cowboys in 1993, have had their hearts broken by Kansas City in several postseason matchups.
In the 2020 AFC title game, the Bills scored the first nine points but were outscored 38-15 the rest of the way. The next year, Buffalo took the lead with a touchdown with 13 seconds left, only to watch Mahomes tie the game with a field goal as time expired, and then beat them in overtime with a touchdown. Last year, Isiah Pacheco’s short touchdown run with 40 seconds left gave the Chiefs a 24-20 victory in Buffalo.
“It feels like a divisional game. We know them really well, they know us,” Reid said about playing the Bills. “In the offseason, we’re preparing for each other because we know we’ll face each other twice, because it seems to happen every year. And it’s always a tough challenge, but it’s one we’re excited for, and another good one for all the fans.”
Road Bumps
The Bills have struggled on the road in the playoffs under coach Sean McDermott, losing all four of their away games. They haven’t won a playoff game on the road since the 1992 season when they beat Miami 29-10 in the AFC Championship. In addition to those losses, they’ve dropped seven straight playoff games.
Two of those defeats came in overtime: a 22-19 loss to Houston in the 2019 wild-card round and a 42-36 loss at Kansas City in the 2021 divisional round. There’s also the infamous “Music City Miracle,” when they lost 22-16 at Tennessee in the 1999 wild-card round, with the game decided by a last-second kickoff return.
Gambling Man
While coach McDermott isn’t known for taking risks on fourth downs, he’s had a successful season in this area. The Bills converted 16 of 22 fourth-down attempts during the regular season, giving them a 72.7% success rate, which was second-best in the league. This is a huge improvement compared to McDermott’s first season when the Bills converted just 2 of 15 fourth downs.
“You grow through the years. You learn things. You learn about a bunch about your team for that season,” McDermott said. “So all are a little bit different. But you continue to try to put your team in position to win. And that’s what we do.”
Reinforcements
When the Bills beat the Chiefs 30-21 in November, Kansas City was missing key players. Pass rusher Charles Omenihu and cornerback Jaylen Watson were both out due to injuries. Omenihu, who was recovering from a torn ACL, didn’t return for two more weeks, while Watson, recovering from a broken ankle, returned just in time for the Chiefs’ divisional win over Houston. With both players back, they could have a big impact in slowing down the Bills’ offense on Sunday.
Turnover Time
The Bills had the best turnover differential in the league during the regular season, at plus-24, and they’re currently at plus-3 in the playoffs. The Chiefs were at plus-6 during the regular season, but they’ve improved to plus-11 and haven’t lost a turnover since their Week 11 game against Buffalo.
“Every team that’s won ball security, won the turnover battle, has won the game (in the playoffs) so far,” said Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “That is important to us. Buffalo does a great job at it. I don’t think they’ve lost a turnover battle this season.”
Under Pressure
The Chiefs had a strong defensive performance last weekend, sacking the Texans eight times, which was the second-most sacks in a playoff game in franchise history. However, getting to Bills quarterback Josh Allen is a different challenge. He was sacked only 17 times during the regular season, and the Chiefs didn’t manage to sack him at all when they faced him earlier in the season.
“Once you have ahold of him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “you’d better know he’s going to be difficult to bring down.”
