KANSAS CITY, Mo. – You’ll remember where you were 50 years from now.
That is, of course, unless you do everything in your power to forget what happened Sunday night.
Josh Allen and Gabriel Davis connected for four touchdowns – including two inside the two-minute warning to twice give the Buffalo Bills a late lead – but the NFL’s best defense couldn’t hang on in a thrilling 42-36 OT loss.
The Buffalo Bills’ season crashed and burned at Arrowhead Stadium in the most painful way imaginable – a 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that will immediately join the four Super Bowl losses and “Homerun Throwback” as the absolute most painful in franchise history.
"We're all sick to our stomach and it hurts. We work really hard to get here," head coach Sean McDermott said. "I know the fans are disappointed, and I wish I could take that off of them. I wish I could take it off of the team, but we can't and, you know, what doesn't kill you should only make you stronger, and I think this should make us stronger. It's going to take some time, but it should make us stronger."
After a superhuman performance by quarterback Josh Allen put the Bills ahead 36-33 with 13 seconds remaining, the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL simply crumbled.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ team speed was the biggest factor from start to finish – and especially at the finish – in the Buffalo Bills’ 42-36 overtime loss in the AFC divisional playoff game.
The Bills allowed Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes – no stranger to superhuman accomplishments himself – to march his team into range for a 49-yard field goal by Harrison Butker as time expired in the fourth quarter and send the game to overtime.
Mahomes moved the ball as though the Bills were playing with seven defenders to the Chiefs’ 11 offensive players. It took him just two plays to gain 44 yards, with a 19-yard completion to Tyreek Hill and a 25-yard completion to tight end Travis Kelce getting the job done.
"I don't want to really get into specifics," McDermott said of how the defense failed in such a way. "Just overall, there's things we talked about and we can just execute better and that starts with me and goes all the way down. I don't want to get into specifics right now. I'm really proud of the guys and their effort. Obviously, they made a couple plays down the stretch. So I'll just leave it at that right now."
It's understandable that McDermott wasn't going to single anyone out, but let’s call this what it was: An absolute, inexcusable failure from a defense that led the NFL in fewest yards and points allowed in the regular season. Mahomes or not, the end of the game can’t happen in that fashion.
It was actually the second time in regulation the Bills went full-on meltdown mode. After Allen and the offense took a 29-26 lead with 1:54 remaining on a 27-yard touchdown to Gabriel Davis and a two-point conversion by Stefon Diggs, the Chiefs stormed right back down the field.
Don't miss Katherine Fitzgerald's quarter-by-quarter analysis of the Buffalo Bills' 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on AFC divisional playoff weekend ...
Hill, who finished with 11 catches for 150 yards, raced 64 yards to the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:02 remaining.
"You’ve got to tackle well against this offense," McDermott said. "They’ve got great speed. A 5-yard catch can turn into a 50-yard run after catch. You saw the one. We were in two-man, I think, after the second-to-last touchdown by our offense when we went up a little bit there and Tyreek made a play and then he took it to the house. So, they challenge you defensively because of the speed that they have on offense.”
Even so, there was more than enough time for Allen, who put on one of the great performances in franchise history. He put together a 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown catch by Davis. That should have been enough, but the defense couldn't get it done. McDermott also can be second guessed. Instead of kicking off short, forcing the Chiefs to return the ball and run time off the clock, the Bills kicked a touchback, allowing Kansas City to take over at its 25-yard line.
"We talked about that," McDermott said. "Again, you know, I’m just going to put it on the execution at this point and myself, I’m just going to leave it at that.”
After tying the game, the Bills lost the coin flip in overtime, which spelled trouble with the defense’s inability to get off the field in the second half.
Bills receiver Gabriel Davis erupts to keep Bills in game before gutting loss
Despite what seemed like consistent pressure all night, the Bills’ defenders simply could not bring Mahomes down in the backfield. Mahomes ducked, dodged and dived around the Bills’ pass rush all night, buying time to either run it himself or extending the play long enough to find open receivers. He finished 33 of 44 for 378 yards and three touchdowns, and also led his team with seven carries for 69 yards and another touchdown.
The Chiefs made short work of overtime, with Mahomes completing a 10-yard pass to Kelce on third and 1. Two plays later, Mahomes completed a 16-yard pass to Jerick McKinnon. Two plays after that, Mahomes beat a blitz to complete a 26-yard catch-and-run to Mecole Hardman that put the ball at the Bills’ 8-yard line. Mahomes connected with Kelce on the next play for the game-winning score, and the Bills’ No. 1-ranked defense left the field, having failed the test.
"Obviously not the way we wanted to end our season," safety Jordan Poyer said. "Frick, man, offense did everything they had to do. Defense, we had to go out there and make a stop, weren't able to do it. It's just a tough feeling, man. Just a really tough feeling, hard to put in words. It (stinks). It's something we've got to live with, something we're going to have to learn from."
The Chiefs advance to host the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC championship game next Sunday – a game that would have been held in Highmark Stadium had the Bills finished the deal. The Bills will begin the painful process of cleaning out their lockers – no doubt wondering what could have been.
2. Davis finished with an unbelievable stat line. The second-year veteran had eight catches for 201 yards and four touchdowns – numbers that would be hard to believe in a game of Madden. In fact, they've never been done before – Davis' four-touchdown game was the first time in NFL history a player has had that many receiving touchdowns in a postseason game.
Among the questions in the aftermath of the Buffalo Bills' 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas…
In addition to his two fourth-quarter touchdowns, he also reached the end zone from 18 yards out in the second quarter and hauled in a perfectly thrown bomb from Allen in the third quarter for a 75-yard touchdown. It was a legendary performance, and one that figures to cement Davis as a starter for the 2022 season.
"I looked at him on the sideline and I said, ‘Hey, you’re gonna make the play,’ and he darn sure made two big-time plays for us down the stretch there," McDermott said.
"I talk about this all the time, but when your number’s called, you have to make the play," Davis said. "I knew it was going to be a night like that tonight, especially knowing that we have guys like, you know, Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley, that will be getting doubled more often than I would. So, I was just prepared for anything coming my way and I was able to, again, make the most of the plays that were called.”
3. Stefon Diggs was quiet. Diggs made a terrific catch on the two-point conversion that put the Bills up 29-26 in the fourth quarter, but otherwise finished with just three catches for 7 yards. It will be second-guessed well into the offseason why the team’s No. 1 receiver wasn’t more heavily involved early in the game.
"I think they had a good plan doubling him, especially on some of these third downs, rolling the safety over the top, playing two high and usually when you try to take away somebody and put two guys on No. 14, it opens up things for the other guys," Allen said. "Again, Gabe had his opportunities tonight and he made some outstanding plays. Even Cole making some great plays, getting everybody involved. Yeah, I mean, that’s what it came down to.”
Five hours before kickoff, dozens of fans brought a slice of Orchard Park to a parking lot in the shadow of Arrowhead Stadium.
4. Special teams had a costly breakdown. Punting from his own 15-yard line with 11:58 left in the fourth quarter, Matt Haack got off a good effort that traveled 54 yards. The Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill returned the punt 13 yards to the Kansas City 44-yard line, but an illegal block above the waist looked like it would push the Chiefs back. Unfortunately for the Bills, Taiwan Jones was also penalized for running out of bounds on the play, and the offsetting penalties meant the down was replayed.
Haack’s next punt wasn’t as good, traveling just 46 yards. Hill then somehow shook free up the right sideline, returning the ball to the Bills’ 16-yard line. The Buffalo defense actually came up with a rare stop, limiting the Chiefs to a 28-yard field goal by Butker that extended Kansas City’s lead to 26-21.
5. Devin Singletary extended his touchdown streak. The Bills’ running back scored for the ninth time in the past six games with his 1-yard touchdown run on the Bills’ first drive of the game. Singletary, however, failed to get much else going in the game, finishing with just 10 carries for 26 yards and four catches for 25 yards.
6. Efe Obada returned to the lineup. The veteran defensive end did not play in the Bills' 47-17 victory over the New England Patriots in the wild-card round, while defensive tackle Vernon Butler Jr. played 23 snaps. Obada has been dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of the Week 18 game against the Jets.
"He's kind of day-to-day right now, so we'll see how he progresses as the week goes on," defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said of Obada at the start of the week. "Be great to get him back, but we'll see. Hopefully, he'll make it back."
Tension peaked in a riveting fourth quarter that saw 25 total points scored in the game's final two minutes, leading to a roller coaster of emotions – stress, joy, anger and disappointment.
7. The Bills did not list any players on their final injury report. That meant in addition to Butler, the other six inactive players were all healthy inactives. That list included running back Matt Breida, wide receiver Marquez Stevenson, tight end Tommy Sweeney, offensive tackle Bobby Hart, cornerback Nick McCloud and safety Josh Thomas. McCloud and Thomas were called up to the active roster from the practice squad Saturday.
8. The Chiefs lost safety Tyrann Mathieu in the first quarter. Mathieu, a three-time, first-team All-Pro, suffered a concussion. That forced backup Daniel Sorensen into the game. Sorensen was benched after the Bills’ Week 5 win over the Chiefs.
9. Rashad Fenton was inactive for Kansas City. The Chiefs’ cornerback was questionable because of a back injury on the team’s final injury report. Running back Darrel Williams also did not play. He was questionable with a toe injury. Quarterback Shane Buechele, wide receiver Josh Gordon, defensive end Joshua Kaindoh and tackle Prince Tega Wanogho were the Chiefs’ other inactives.
10. Jody Fortson missed the game for Kansas City. Fortson, a Buffalo native who graduated from South Park High School and attended Erie Community College before transferring to Valdosta State University, is on Kansas City’s injured reserve. He played in Week 5 against the Bills, but suffered a torn Achilles the following week that knocked him out for the remainder of the season.
