KANSAS CITY, Mo.— Everything looked oh so familiar Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes hoisting the AFC championship trophy as confetti rained down, veteran coach Andy Reid hugging team owner Clark Hunt, and tight end Travis Kelce kissing pop superstar Taylor Swift, grabbing the microphone and imploring fans to once more party the night away.
The two-time reigning NFL champions had earned a chance at an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title in the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy era.
And once again, they had brushed aside the Buffalo Bills on the way.
This time, it was Mahomes’ arm and his legs — 245 yards and a touchdown passing, two more scores rushing — and some key stops by the defense that preserved the top-seeded Chiefs’ 32-29 victory over the second-seeded Bills in the AFC championship game.
“It’s just so hard to get to the Super Bowl, and I don’t take it for granted, and to do it again at Arrowhead Stadium was special,” Mahomes said. “You get that trophy on that stage, and you look around here and there’s not an empty seat — it’s special.”
The Chiefs will get a familiar foe in the Philadelphia Eagles, whom they beat 38-35 two years ago for their first title in this run, at Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 in New Orleans. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Eastern at the Superdome, and Fox will televise the game.
Second-seeded Philadelphia (17-3) romped to a 55-23 victory over the sixth-seeded Washington Commanders earlier Sunday to earn its shot.
“I’m proud of my teammates and how they responded,” Mahomes said atop the victory stand with the Lamar Hunt Trophy raised aloft. “That was a great football team, and I’m just at a loss for words.”
It’s the fourth time since January 2021 that the Chiefs have ended the Bills’ season in the playoffs. And like all the rest, it came after a heavyweight fight between two of the top teams in the conference, one that was tied 29 after Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen found Curtis Samuel in the back of the end zone to set up a little more drama at Arrowhead.
Mahomes was simply unflappable, though. He completed four consecutive passes on the ensuing possession, setting up Harrison Butker’s go-ahead field goal with 3:33 left and putting the Bills in another do-or-die situation in Kansas City.
Allen got their drive going by running for a first down, but his next two throws were batted at the line of scrimmage. He hit Amari Cooper for a short gain on third down, and the Bills chose to go for it — they were 4-for-5 on fourth down at that point — and the Kansas City blitz forced Allen to loft up a prayer that Dalton Kincaid was unable to corral deep downfield.
The Chiefs took over, picked up a couple of first downs and began to celebrate once again.
“I think I’ve always said it: It’s not about one guy. It’s not about a couple guys. It’s about the whole entire team,” said Mahomes, joined by Coach Reid and tight end Travis Kelce in the celebration. “When we needed the defense to get stops, they got stops. Offense, we made plays. That’s why we’re so special; it’s a team effort, and it’s a team football game.”
Kareem Hunt had a touchdown run and Xavier Worthy had six catches for 85 yards and a score for Kansas City, which became the fourth franchise to reach three consecutive Super Bowls with its ninth consecutive playoff victory.
“Every one of these is so special,” Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. “What a game today. Travis, Patrick and their teammates always find a way to get it done. That was true this whole year. And it’s a credit to Coach Reid and his amazing staff. Now we get to do something that’s never been done before, Chiefs Kingdom.”
Allen threw for 237 yards and two scores for Buffalo (15-5), and James Cook ran for 85 yards and two touchdowns of his own, but the Bills still have not been to the Super Bowl since a run of four straight appearance from the 1990 season to the 1993 season, all of them losses.
“Not the result we wanted,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I told them they’ve got nothing to be ashamed of and I love them.”
The Bills and Chiefs have become well acquainted over the years, meeting seven times since Kansas City beat Buffalo under the exact same circumstances — the AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium — to reach the Super Bowl in January 2021.
Buffalo had won all four games in the regular season. Kansas City had won the three that mattered in the postseason.
And all of that familiarity, along with the fact that McDermott once worked for Reid, was evident as Sunday’s game transpired. The Bills simply refused to let Kelce beat them like he did the Houston Texans in the divisional round last weekend, while Kansas City was prepared for Allen’s propensity to take off and run.
It was the Chiefs who took a 21-16 lead into the locker room after a topsy-turvy first half.
Mahomes and Hunt ran for scores, and Worthy had a touchdown reception as the teams traded the lead. Cook reached the end zone for Buffalo, and a spectacular touchdown catch by Mack Hollins just before halftime kept the Bills in the game.
It remained a game of inches in the second half: Cook barely reached across the goal line for a touchdown, the Chiefs stopped Allen inches shy of the marker on fourth down, Mahomes bulldozed into the end zone for a score, and the Bills answered with a 70-yard drive in which their MVP-candidate quarterback hit Samuel on fourth-and-goal to tie the game at 29.
And then 53:45 of game clock had been rendered moot. Everything came down to the last 6:15 — and it ended with the Chiefs, once again, turning their thoughts toward getting ready to play the final game of an NFL season.
The Bills were left to think of the start of the next one.
“That’s football, you know. The loss hurts. That’s what makes this game what it is,” said Bills pass rusher Von Miller, who has won Super Bowl rings with both the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Rams. “We did everything in our power to win. And just, you know, ran out of time.”