Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City moves on to Super Bowl LIX... and a chance to make history.
The Kansas City Chiefs have qualified for their third straight Super Bowl appearance after a 32-29 victory against the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s AFC Championship on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have now earned the right to face the NFC’s Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9.
Starting on defense, the Chiefs forced a three-and-out on the Bills’ opening drive, giving the ball to the offense at their 10-yard line. Then quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed multiple short passes — plus a 31-yard catch-and-run to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster — on the way to Kareem Hunt’s 12-yard scoring run to take a 7-0 lead.
On Buffalo’s next drive, the offense worked its way past midfield before the Chiefs were finally able to hold on a third-and-9. Tyler Bass’ 53-yard field goal narrowed Kansas City’s lead to 7-3. Starting at their 32, the Chiefs engineered another efficient drive that ended when Mahomes lost the ball while executing a fake to Isiah Pacheco. Buffalo recovered at their own 28 and ran a 10-play drive that ended with James Cook’s 6-yard touchdown run and a 10-7 Buffalo lead.
The Chiefs then drove 70 yards on 11 plays — one of them a designed Mahomes run to convert a fourth-and-1 — and scored with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy that gave Kansas City a 14-10 lead. The defense then collected another three-and-out, getting the ball at the Bills’ 34-yard line after Nikko Remigio’s 41-yard punt return with 3:39 left in the half. Mahomes hit Worthy with a 26-yard pass that the wideout had to manhandle away from the defender, putting the Chiefs at the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Mahomes scored on a 1-yard scramble — and Kansas City led 21-10.
Starting from its 27-yard line with 1:48 left in the half, the Bills quickly moved past midfield — and then quarterback Josh Allen found Mick Hollins for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Kansas City knelt to end the half with a 21-16 lead.
Opening the third quarter on offense, the Chiefs drove into field goal range, but were pushed out when Matt Milano’s sack ended a Mahomes scramble, forcing Kansas City’s first punt of the game. Buffalo downshifted into running the ball, getting a 33-rush from Cook to move past midfield. The Chiefs held on a third-and-3, but Allen converted the fourth-and-1 to keep the drive alive — and then gained 13 to get into the red zone. Kansas City held on two successive downs inside the 3-yard line before Cooks scored on fourth-and-1. With another failed two-point conversion, the Bills took a 22-21 lead.
The Buffalo defense forced another punt after just four Chiefs plays, getting the ball back at their 30-yard line. The Bills went back to the ground game, getting past midfield with a fourth-and-1 conversion as the fourth quarter began. Three plays later, the...
