The Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills was highlighted as a potential game of the season coming into the NFL’s Divisional Round weekend given the star power involved, most importantly at the quarterback position. Everyone was right. It was the game of the year (so far).
Between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, the league had high hopes for this Sunday night primetime showing, and the game more than lived up to the hype as two AFC contenders went blow for blow with each other until the Chiefs came out on top in a 42-36 victory.
With the win, the Chiefs now move on to play the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game and the chance to represent the conference in Super Bowl LVI against either the Los Angeles Rams or the San Francisco 49ers.
While there’s a lot of analysis to come, we’ve got a few quick thoughts from a game that will have everyone talking for quite some time.
A true rivalry at work
The Buffalo Bills had already signaled this was going to be a rivalry for the foreseeable future earlier this season when they came into Arrowhead and shocked Chiefs Kingdom with a lopsided win that only furthered the misery experienced early on by Kansas City to start the season. At the time, the bulk of attention was on the Chiefs’ overall inability to win against a contender, but looking back, it’s easier to isolate that game as a statement against the Chiefs.
On Sunday night, the Bills proved once again clearly a talented team that was ready to compete with a raucous home crowd. The Chiefs, however, stood tall as well and each team was able to match blow for most of the game. For all the hype before the game, it was the rare matchup that lived up to the billing and gave the NFL a riveting matchup to end the Divisional Round.
With so many lead changes in the final minutes of the game, it’s still hard to come to terms with the way the game ended. The sting will be tough for the Bills for the foreseeable future but they should feel very good about their window of opportunity in front of them.
The AFC has a lot of bright young talent at the quarterback position, and Joe Burrow is waiting to show what he can do in the AFC Championship game as well, but the crème de la crème in the conference will be found in these matchups year after year.