I saw something strange the other day. I was at home watching TV, and an ad for this year’s NFL playoffs came on.
I’ve seen hundreds of ads like this before. It had highlights from each of the teams in the mix to win this year’s Super Bowl, slow-motion shots of the Lombardi Trophy being lifted triumphantly, and a voiceover describing the glory of winning a championship—all the things you’d expect.
But what made it odd was what it didn’t include: any reference to the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the first time in a decade, the Chiefs have missed the NFL playoffs. A season that began with Super Bowl aspirations ended in premature disappointment, and it has left a lingering question: if the Chiefs aren’t in the playoffs, which team do I want to see win the Super Bowl most?
For me the answer is easy: the Buffalo Bills. That might seem like an odd thing to say, given the rivalry the Chiefs and Bills have had this decade. So why in the world would I want Kansas City’s biggest AFC nemesis to actually win the championship? Because I think Bills fans deserve it.
When the Chiefs are out, a familiar kind of heartbreak makes it easy to root for the Bills and their long-overdue moment of joy.
Of all the teams in the NFL, in my opinion, the Bills are the team that is most like the Chiefs. They are both small-market franchises playing in cities that are arguably most famous for their football teams, and both have passionate, loyal fan bases that rank among the best in the NFL.
The Chiefs and Bills both have incredible quarterbacks, ultra-talented players who would already rank as the best in each team’s respective history, who have ushered in a new era of hope for their fan bases.
They play in cold weather against teams from larger, sexier cities—Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and New York—and for decades they both shared playoff histories famous for heartbreak and lack of success.
Recently, it’s that last point that has separated the two teams. After five decades of waiting, Kansas City finally reached the mountaintop. The Chiefs have won three of the last six Super Bowls and have been to the title game five times.
Meanwhile, in that same six-year span, the Bills haven’t even had a chance to play for a Lombardi Trophy. Buffalo has had its season ended by the Chiefs in four of the last five seasons, and the Bills are still trying to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1993.
As Chiefs fans, we know almost exactly how Bills fans must feel, because we’ve lived it too.
Do you remember that feeling that the Chiefs would never be able to get over the hump? That impending sense of doom, knowing that no matter how good the team looked, things were guaranteed to end in heartbreak—only to then watch it actually happen? It sucked.
Do you also remember the moment when all of that suddenly vanished? When Damien Williams skipped into the end zone late in Super Bowl LIV and the Chiefs finally won? I cried. The 10 other Chiefs fans I was watching the game with all cried too. We hugged each other and cried some more. And then, we celebrated.
People were setting off fireworks in the street. I stood on a driveway and drank a mystery liquor from a bottle that a total stranger handed to me as we watched them go off—no questions asked.
I waited in line at Dick’s Sporting Goods for more than an hour with hundreds of other Chiefs fans to get a Super Bowl champions hat. Then I wore it to the Power & Light District and partied with thousands of people for hours. I got home at 6 a.m. and watched the whole game on replay again.
It was the experience of a lifetime. I distinctly remember that moment when Williams scored the game-icing touchdown and realized this is actually happening—and the pure joy and relief when the game ended and the Chiefs had won. Buffalo fans deserve to experience that too.
Bills fans are just like us. They’re loud, they’re loyal, and they love their team. They’ve been through decades of heartbreak and disappointment, enduring losses that are even worse than Kansas City’s own playoff miseries. And now, they’re gearing up for what they hope will be the postseason when everything finally changes.
I remember what that felt like, and I hope Bills fans get to experience it too.