The Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the Super Bowl. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills led Sunday night’s AFC Championship Game, climbing 9-0 in the first quarter thanks to some expensive home team mistakes – a deep ball throw at Tyreek Hill, a muffled Mecole Hardman hit. From that point on, however, the reigning champions dominated the night, with Buffalo resigning to the field goals and the Chiefs finally coming to life with their own game makers. In the end, Hill, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had dominated the box scoring, and Andy Reid had scored his second trip to the Super Bowl in so many years, thanks to a 38-24 defeat at Arrowhead.
Next on the agenda: a rematch with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on February 7, when the next Lombardi Trophy will be issued.
Here are some immediate lessons from the AFC title clash on Sunday night:
Why the bosses won
Remember the weapons they used to win everything a year ago? They were on full display on Sunday night. Patrick Mahomes. Tyreek Hill. Travis Kelce. The entire gang came to life after a slow start, and once they did, the Bills basically had no response to the explosion. Kelce was almost helpless in the middle, Hill reminded the rest of the NFL that he could be an Olympic sprinter and Mahomes just thrived playing as a point guard to help seal the deal. The Kansas City defense, especially up front, deserves a lot of credit too, for getting in the face of Josh Allen, running blitzes all night and keeping Stefon Diggs in an almost non-existent role in the early stages of the confrontation.
Why Bills lost
On a night when they needed the Chiefs to completely implode or an offensive attack executed by Brian Daboll to perfection, they failed either. Buffalo took advantage of KC’s initial hiccups, but Josh Allen was erratic for most of the first half – and Bills had no ground game other than his legs. The defense, however? Not even Tre’Davious White and Jordan Poyer and Tremaine Edmunds could save them from being cut by Kelce and Hill in the field. Allen took things in the second half and fought until the end, but with pressure on his face, he often backed away and lost Bill’s precious yards instead of launching his magical big play trademark. It didn’t help that Sean McDermott was content to settle for field goals several times.
Inflection point
You can say that it was the Bills who decided to kick a field goal when they lost 12 by the end of the third period. This only allowed the Chiefs to open the game with a touchdown to move up 31-15 in the next series. But the real turning point seemed to have occurred when Allen had a beautiful drive erased by a John Brown pass that ended up in Rashad Fenton’s arms for a big interception. That one came on the Chiefs’ 20-yard line, eliminated a potential Bills score and put the momentum in favor of Kansas City.
Game play
Rashad Fenton didn’t have to do much except wait for the ball to reach his arms in the big choice of the fourth period, but it was still a monumental move, complete with a nice comeback to put Kansas City in position for yet another scoring attempt:
What is the next
The Chiefs are returning to the Super Bowl! They will have a week of rest and / or preparation before the February 7 championship against the Buccaneers. The Bills, meanwhile, will begin their 2021 offseason with reasons to look to the future, thanks to some strong steps from Josh Allen and the new AFC East champions.