Only four teams remain in the running for an opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in the world, Super Bowl LVI.
Divisional playoffs ended January 23 with one of the most epic final two minutes of football ever played as two juggernaut offenses–in the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills–traded the lead four times to force overtime.
It is surprising to think that almost an entire football game did not actually matter, but that is sort of what happened as the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs battled for nearly fifty-eight minutes, the bulk of the time taken by staggering defenses fielded by the two clubs battling for a shot at the Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Both teams took their initial possession of the game down the field for a touchdown, but then the defensive game took over.
Kansas City forced two punts, with only a three-and-out by the Chiefs offense separating the two before the Chiefs hooked up for a touchdown in the second quarter to take the advantage by seven. Buffalo answered, clearing seventy-five yards in just 1:15 minutes to tie the game at 14 points per team, only to see the Chiefs line up for a fifty-yard field goal at the end of the second half that would boink off the right upright.
Kansas City would add 10-points early in the third quarter before Bills quarterback Josh Allen connected for a seventy-five-yard touchdown pass. With Kansas City up by only two points, the game entered the fourth quarter when everything these two teams had promised all season came to fruition.
The Chiefs managed to tack on a field goal early in the fourth to give the team a three-point lead, then came back with a six-play-61-yard touchdown after shutting the Buffalo offense down. The extra point failed, giving KC only a 9-point advantage.
One play. That is all it took for Buffalo to answer: an instant touchdown strike from Allen to wide receiver Gabriel Davis as he split coverage down the middle of the field for the go-ahead score. Davis stood in the endzone, arms akimbo, wondering where the coverage was that should have stopped the easy score.
A successful two-point try gave Buffalo a 29-26 lead that seemed like the game-winning drive. In a normal game, that would likely have been the case.
Fifty-two seconds later, Mahomes connected with running back Tyreek Hill to give Kansas City a 33-29 lead. With only 1:02 minutes left in the game, Buffalo fans began to resign themselves to yet another loss. Eight plays, 0.49 seconds, and the Bills once again had the lead, and with only 0.13 seconds left on the clock, it looked like Buffalo would play in their first Championship game since losing to the same Kansas City Chiefs the year before.
Andy Reid allegedly told Mahomes ahead of the final drive, “When things look grim, be the grim reaper.” Football fans can only hope the moniker sticks because reaping is what Mahomes seems to do best.
With 0.13 seconds on the game clock, Kansas City engineered a two-pass drive, allowing kicker Harrison Butker to take the game to overtime with a forty-nine-yard field goal that split the uprights.
Football fans would be hard-pressed to name a more dramatic game this season.
Kansas City won the toss and took the ball. In this special moment, while all but three teams sat waiting to see what would happen, Mahomes did what he has done since being drafted in 2015 at 10th overall: he made magic happen.
The final pass of the game might appear on highlight reels for years, ironic considering that Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce have connected on numerous, similar passes. A toe-tap, a signal from the ref, and the confetti began as Kansas City, somehow, did what was previously unthinkable. In less than two minutes, the teams had scored four touchdowns–the first time since the merger in 1970 that a Divisional round, or any playoff game for that matter, had come down to this.
Kansas City will face the Cincinnati Bengals in the Championship game, while Buffalo will lick wounds and prepare to build toward another opportunity to take it all next year.
