AFC Divisional report | Chiefs outlast Bills, reach 6th straight AFC title game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t stop the run.

The Buffalo Bills couldn’t stop Patrick Mahomes.

Something had to give Sunday evening in the latest epic postseason clash between Mahomes and his counterpart, Josh Allen, in the AFC Divisional Round at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

Tyler Bass blinked, pushing a 44-yard field-goal try wide right with 1:43 remaining. The kick could have tied the game, but instead, the Chiefs ran out the clock from there in a 27-24 victory.

“Every time I go up against Josh, I know that it’s going to come down to the end, just because of the competitor that he is and the player that he is,” Mahomes said. “Same when I go up against Joe (Burrow), when I go up against Lamar (Jackson) — all these guys. I know how much fire they have and they’re not going to give up until the very end. You appreciate that stuff.”

The win moves Kansas City into its sixth straight AFC Championship Game, but this will be the first one on the road.

“You appreciate it; you really do,” Mahomes said. “This run — to be a part of this organization and to be in the AFC Championship Game, that’s what you try to do every single season. That’s why you work in OTAs, why you work out in the offseason and come to grind every single day.”

Mahomes finished 17 of 23 for 215 yards with two touchdowns — both to tight end Travis Kelce, who finished with five catches for 75 yards — while Isiah Pacheco racked up 111 total yards, including 97 rushing yards with a touchdown on 15 carries.

It was Mahomes’ first road playoff game, but he passed the test with flying colors, improving to 6-0 in his career in the AFC Divisional Round.

Allen went 26 of 39 for 186 yards with a touchdown, adding another 72 yards and two scores on the ground.

The third-seeded Chiefs, who play the top-seeded Ravens at 2 p.m. next Sunday at M&T Stadium in Baltimore for a spot in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, are 3-2 during their run of AFC title games.

“It feels great, but we’ve got a lot more to do and I can’t wait,” said rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice, who finished with four catches for 47 yards on four targets. “I’m more than excited. I can’t even explain it. I’m ready to get there.”

CHIEFS’ D TRAMPLED: Buffalo ran for 77 yards on 12 carries, an average of 6.4 yards per carry, in the first quarter.

The Bills opened the second quarter with three straight runs, two by running back James Cook for 12 yards, before Allen went untouched around the left edge for a 5-yard touchdown.

It never really got better for the Chiefs’ defense.

Kansas City only allowed more than 140 rushing yards twice all season — losses on Christmas Day against Las Vegas (157) and Oct. 29 in Denver (153).

Buffalo had 22 carries for 124 yards rushing at halftime and would finish with 39 carries for 182 yards — 25 more than Steve Spagnuolo’s defense had allowed in any other game this season.

“Leaky tackling a little bit, tackling a little bit high, not killing the engine led to making contact at 1 or 2 yards and they ended up getting 5 or 6 off of it,” said linebacker Nick Bolton, who finished with a game-high 13 tackles.

Allen led the way with 12 carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns, while James Cook added 18 carries for 61 yards and Ty Johnson racked up seven carries for 40 yards.

But the Bills only managed 58 yards on 17 carries after halftime.

“This sounds ridiculous, but the technique — (defensive line coach) Joe (Cullen) was emphasizing using the hands to separate and making sure they could see things,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “They were getting tied up in these physical matches with these guys as opposed to separating and using their speed to take care of business and, at the same time, controlling their gap.”

Reid said the linebackers also stepped up and made some big plays in the second half along with safety Justin Reid — who finished with 11 tackles, including one for a loss.

Only Bolton made more tackles, while rookie defensive back Chamarri Conner finished with 10 tackles. Conner played nickel and safety after Mike Edwards left on the game's second play with a concussion.

Drue Tranquill, who soaked up extra snaps after Willie Gay Jr. exited with a neck injury, added seven tackles, including one for a loss, and fellow linebacker Leo Chenal had six.

BLOW FOR BLOW: Mahomes-Allen III added another epic postseason chapter to the friendly rivalry.

The Chiefs romped past the Bills 38-24 in the 2020 AFC Championship Game — returning to the Super Bowl, where they’d lose to Tampa Bay.

The next year, Kansas City outlasted Buffalo in “The 13-Second Game,” a wild and thrilling 42-36 overtime win in the 2021 AFC Divisional Round.

The Bills and Chiefs traded lengthy drives to open the game with both teams settling for field goals.

Buffalo went in front on a 27-yard Tyler Bass field goal, and Kansas City answered with a 47-yard Harrison Butker field goal.

It was the seventh straight postseason game that Mahomes led the Chiefs to points on the opening drive.

The Bills retook the lead on the next drive, capped by Allen’s fourth career rushing touchdown.

Kansas City’s second drive netted another Butker field goal, this one from 29 yards, cutting the deficit to 10-6.

The next two Chiefs drives, excluding a kneel down to end the first half, ended with go-ahead touchdowns from Mahomes to Kelce.

Those scores were sandwiched around Allen’s second rushing touchdown, a 2-yard plunge with 26 seconds before halftime.

Buffalo went back in front on Khalil Shakir’s 13-yard comeback route as Allen beat Kansas City cornerback L’Jarius Sneed with a frozen rope to the sideline at the front pylon. It was the first touchdown Sneed has allowed all season.

But the Chiefs didn’t blink, at least not yet, marching on 75 yards on eight plays on the ensuing drive before Isiah Pacheco’s 4-yard touchdown made it 27-24.

At that point, Buffalo had punted once and the only drive Kansas City failed to score on was the kneel down to end the first half. The teams had scored on the other nine drives to start the game.

Neither team scored on the game's final six drives as the defense finally clamped down.

“That’s two great football teams — two great offenses, defenses, everything — going at it,” Mahomes said. “We were able to come out on top this week.”

CHIEFS’ BIG-TIME SPECIAL TEAMS STOP: Leading 27-24 early in the fourth quarter, Kansas City seemed to catch a potential game-changing break when Leo Chenal and Cole Christiansen stopped Damar Hamlin for a 2-yard gain on fourth-and-5 at Buffalo’s 30-yard line.

The Chiefs only had 10 men on the field for the special-teams snap, so the Bills tried to take advantage.

But Kansas City’s coverage team wasn’t fooled.

It appeared that turnover on downs would break Buffalo’s back, especially after Pacheco rumbled 29 yards on the next snap to the 3-yard line.

Instead, the very next play, Mecole Hardman Jr. fumbled at the goal on a pop pass, a staple of Andy Reid’s goal-line playbook.

Initially, Hardman was ruled down at the 1-yard line, but the Bills challenged and it was changed to a fumble out of the end zone on review.

“You can’t reach out,” Reid said. “He was trying, so you give him the effort. But we know you can’t do that down there because of that reason. You’ve got to protect that football, so he’ll be better for that.”

The wild sequence wound up effectively zeroing out after the Chiefs’ defense forced a three-and-out, but Hardman’s fumble loomed large as the Chiefs never managed to extend that 27-24 lead and had to depend on the late field-goal miss to avoid overtime.

ANOTHER NEAR MISS ON A FUMBLE: Ironically, it was a fumble by Allen that nearly changed the game.

Allen scrambled up the middle on third-and-10, but defensive tackle Chris Jones tracked him down from behind and yanked the ball free after a 5-yard pickup.

Jones crawled for the ball, but couldn't reach it.

Defensive back Chamarri Conner tried to scoop the ball up, no doubt envisioning a lengthy fumble-return touchdown, but Buffalo rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid got a hand on it as Conner tried to pick it up.

That allowed right tackle Spencer Brown to dive in and cover the football, setting up a fourth-and-3 at midfield.

Allen connected with wide receiver Khalil Shakir, who got free and confused the Chiefs’ defense with pre-snap bubble motion in the backfield, for a 10-yard gain and the first down.

Eight plays later, and after Allen missed Shakir for a possible go-ahead touchdown deep over the middle, Bass blew the chance at overtime with the missed field goal.

Pacheco picked up 11 yards on two straight carries to ice the game and allow Kansas City to get into the “victory formation” and kneel its way to a crack at their fourth Super Bowl in five seasons.

“Pacheco is a beast and runs so hard,” Reid said. “Clyde stepped in and had a couple great plays there, too. But to put the hammer down there at the end with those couple runs to get the first down and end the game was a big thing there.”

NFL HISTORY: Mahomes and Kelce hooked up for two touchdowns, one in the second quarter and another to start the third.

It was Kelce’s sixth career multi-touchdown playoff game, but it also gave the duo 16 touchdown connections in the postseason.

That’s the most in NFL history, passing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski (15).

With those two TD tosses, Mahomes also passed Drew Brees for career postseason passing touchdowns (38). He ranks sixth in NFL history.

SNEED’S STREAK ENDS: L’Jarius Sneed had played 17 games entering Sunday this season, including the Super Wild Card game against Miami.

He’d yet to surrender a touchdown, but that changed with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter.

With Allen scrambling away from pressure, Khalil Shakir ran a comeback route toward the front pylon along the left sideline.

Allen fired a dart, and Sneed was helpless to break up the go-ahead touchdown.

The Bills led 24-20 after the score and extra point.

INJURY UPDATE: Safety Mike Edwards, who was already in the starting lineup with Bryan Cook sidelined by an ankle injury, left on the game’s opening drive to be evaluated for a concussion.

Veteran Deon Bush, who has primarily been used on special teams in his two seasons with Kansas City, stepped in for Edwards.

Two drives later, linebacker Willie Gay Jr., who had been questionable with a neck injury, went to the locker room to be evaluated.

The Chiefs said Gay was again dealing with a neck injury. He was officially ruled out at halftime.

Left guard Joe Thuney left in the fourth quarter with a right pec injury, Andy Reid said after the game.

WAS TAYLOR SWIFT AT THE GAME?: Of course, pop icon Taylor Swift was at the game, man — it’s Bill-Chiefs in the Divisional Round.

Swift, who started dating Travis Kelce last summer, arrived roughly an hour before kickoff and shared a suite with Brittany Mahomes, as has become customary.

The Chiefs are now 8-3 overall, including the playoffs, when Swift attends a game, which she did frequently during the season.

She was at road games against the New York Jets (Oct. 1), Green Bay (Dec. 3) and New England (Dec. 17), and now Buffalo (Jan. 21).

Swift also attended home games against Chicago (Sept. 24), Denver (Oct. 12), the Los Angeles Chargers (Oct. 22), Buffalo (Dec. 10), Las Vegas (Dec. 25), Cincinnati (Dec. 31) and the Super Wild Card win against Miami (Jan. 13).

GUESS WHO ELSE WAS THERE?: Kelce’s brother, Jason, also showed up at Highmark Stadium and took part in Bills Mafia’s legendary tailgate festivities.

The elder Kelce, an All-Pro center for Philadelphia, may be retiring after 13 seasons and 205 career games, including the playoffs, but he will always remain a man of the people.

UP NEXT: Kansas City plays in the AFC Championship Game for the sixth straight season.

The Chiefs lost twice in overtime — to New England in the 2018 season and Cincinnati in the 2021 season — during that span, but have reached the Super Bowl the other three times, winning two shiny Lombardi trophies.

This time, Kansas City must hit the road rather than play in the friendly confines of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs move on to face the top-seeded Ravens in the AFC Championship Game at 2 p.m. next Sunday at M&T Stadium in Baltimore.

It marks the first time since the 2017 season that the AFC title game — a 24-20 New England win over Blake Bortles-led Jacksonville on Jan. 21, 2018 — isn’t at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

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