Thirteen seconds. That's become a phrase that every Kansas City Chiefs fan knows after the Chiefs moved down the field with only 13 seconds remaining on the clock in the 2022 AFC Divisional Round game against the Bills.
Former Chiefs center Mitch Morse was recently asked about that game during an appearance on the Caps Off Podcast. Morse had played for the Chiefs for the first four years of his career before signing with Buffalo in 2019, meaning he was on the opposing sideline in the now famous divisional round game at Arrowhead.
Mitch Morse describes his experience in 13 seconds playoff game
What does he remember about that iconic moment? Morse dove right in, explaining that he was on the Chiefs' sideline three years prior in the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots when K.C. had to move down the field with not much time remaining on the clock to tie the game and send it to overtime. That moment was playing in his mind after the Bills had taken the lead with 13 seconds remaining.
"What I remember is sitting there still having a pretty uneasy feeling because the clock had not hit zero. And three years before, I had been in the AFC Championship game on the other sideline against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick... The Chiefs had to go down [the field] with 18 seconds left or something," Morse said. "And of course the [Bills] are really fired up on the sideline because any other team with any other coach-quarterback duo who doesn't have Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce, this is probably in the bag."
The host of the podcast then points out that Morse's perspective on the game is an interesting one since he had previously played with the Chiefs and knew directly what they were capable of doing. Morse then detailed how things felt after the game.
"The thing is I lived in Kansas City and so that's where we called home base in the offseason. Of course we had to fly back, do exit interviews, and I'm coming straight back to Kansas City... The thing that makes it the worst in my opinion is that they ended up losing to the Cincinnati Bengals," Morse said and then was asked if he wished K.C. had just won it all. "Yeah, you'd rather blow out everyone. I mean objectively you take a step back it's one of the greatest games, but man did it not suck the soul out of you."
Morse played at Mizzou in college and then was drafted by Kansas City so it makes sense that he called K.C. home in the offseason even after he had left. He said it was painful being in his neighborhood where everyone were Chiefs fans and still rooting their team on. After all of that pain though, the Chiefs not going on to win it all made the whole thing even worse.
Good for Morse for being a good sport and talking about this game, as I'm sure it's not fun for him to relive. The 13 seconds game was a stern reminder to everyone not to doubt Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs out, even when things seem grim.