KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It took the Kansas City Chiefs five frustrating decades to make their second Super Bowl appearance. Now they’re headed to the big game for the second straight year and trying to repeat as champions.
Showing no lingering effects from a concussion incurred just a week earlier, Patrick Mahomes sliced up the Buffalo Bills’ secondary with ruthless efficiency as the Chiefs rolled to a 38-24 victory in the AFC championship game Sunday night. Mahomes threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns, with most of it to favorite targets Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.
Now the Chiefs will face a familiar foe: Tom Brady, from his days with the New England Patriots. Brady’s new team is about to become the first to play a Super Bowl in its own stadium after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers 31-26 earlier Sunday to win the NFC championship.
Super Bowl LV is Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida, and while the Bucs (14-5) will be going for only their second NFL title in franchise history, Brady will be going for No. 7. The Chiefs beat the Bucs 27-24 on Nov. 29 in Tampa, and they won last year’s Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers in Florida, doing so in suburban Miami.
The 6:30 p.m. game will be televised by CBS, and the Chiefs opened Sunday as 3 1/2-point favorites with an over-under of 57 1/2 by the Westgate Superbook and the Station Casinos chain.