The AFC’s final season game was between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were looking to earn another AFC championship, while Buffalo hoped to win their first championship since 1993. This was a long game that kept everyone in attendance and watching at home on the edge of their seats. When it came down to it, the Chiefs outplayed the Bills and were victorious. They will now move on to the Superbowl game to play the Buccaneers and defend their title as reigning champions from last year.
Each of these teams played an outstanding regular season, and both had near-perfect records. The Bills went 13-3 in regular season play and 15-4 in the postseason. Meanwhile, the Chiefs were at 14-2 for regular and 16-2 in playoffs. They sure proved that they were worthy of the NO. 1 seed in the conference once again dominating at their home stadium Sunday night.
Despite a slow and shaky start, the Chiefs pulled out the win. Buffalo’s defense was top-notch in the first quarter, as well as their offense. At the end of the first, Buffalo was up by 9, running right by the Chiefs and getting easy points. One thing was for sure, the Chiefs did not look like they showed up to play and walked away from the first quarter, having no points on the scoreboard for their efforts.
As the Chiefs came back onto the field they had a new spark and destroyed Buffalo; they out up multiple touchdowns, gaining 21 points. Going into halftime, the tables turned as Buffalo was now behind (21-12) as they headed to the locker room.
The Chiefs continued to be competitive the rest of the game and finished with a final score of 38- 24, putting up 10 points in the third quarter and an additional 7 in the fourth. Saddened by their loss, Buffalo now heads home to begin preparing for next season.
With Mahomes returning to play this game, it quite possibly made all the difference. The Chiefs quarterback completed 29/38 passing attempts, giving his team plus-325 yards. In rushing yards, wide receiver Darrel Williams was Mahomes go-to man, leading the scoreboard at 52 yards, Mecole Hardman not far behind him with 50.
Receiving yards were outstanding. Tyreek Hill was immaculate, obtaining 172 yards. His teammate Travis Kelce wasn’t far off him with 112 yards and 2 touchdowns.
After the game, Josh Allen spoke to a virtual press conference about what went wrong. Almost every question that was asked his way, he blamed himself for. He then made the following statement when questioned about why things ended up the way they did, “I didn’t execute how I should have, I didn’t perform well enough for this team…you got to have you’re a game or else you’re not going to win…” He further expressed his disappointment and claimed, “It was a couple of decisions early on…our red zone efficiency…we had to settle for field goals, and you got to score touchdowns against these guys…”
Even though they are headed home, the team has high hopes for the future and expects to return next season even stronger than before.
Next Up
The Chiefs will travel to play Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, Florida, on February 7th at 6:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium and featured on the NFL Network. This will be the first time ever a home team holds the Superbowl at their stadium.
