ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — They sprinted to each other, the noise surrounding them beginning to dissipate.
Several yards from one another, linebacker Nick Bolton and quarterback Patrick Mahomes screamed and unleashed their tense emotions with the same celebration: leaping off the artificial turf and pumping their right fist. Several members of the Kansas City Chiefs — players, coaches and athletic trainers — hugged one another, either on the playing surface or the sideline Sunday night. The much-anticipated playoff showdown, the Chiefs’ rematch against the Buffalo Bills, this time in the AFC divisional round, wasn’t even over yet.
Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, though, was the first player to execute the gesture every Chiefs player wanted to do since the team arrived at Highmark Stadium. He stood on a metal bench and waved goodbye to the 70,808 fans, most of them lusting to see the Bills end the Chiefs’ quest to become the NFL’s first repeat champion in two decades.
“It feels so good when everybody’s so loud, and you know it’s because they want that other team to succeed,” Edwards-Helaire said, smiling. “You can shut all them m—– f—– up, and it’s just us on the sideline making noise.”
The moment the Chiefs began celebrating — and voicing their vindication at the home crowd — came late in the fourth quarter when the Bills failed to tie the game, missing a field goal attempt that led to the game’s final score: Chiefs 27, Bills 24.
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For the sixth consecutive season, the Chiefs earned a spot in the AFC Championship Game. Their thrilling victory, one over one of their biggest rivals, guaranteed them another road playoff game next week, a marquee matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, with the winner representing the AFC in Super Bowl LVIII.
“This was so fun,” safety Justin Reid said of the Chiefs ending the Bills’ season for the third time in the past four years. “The environment was crazy. We don’t appreciate all the snowballs (thrown at us), but it still added to it.
“This is one of my favorite games, man. We earned everything. Nothing was easy, and that’s a good-ass team. We found a way to come out on top.”
Throughout their preparation for Sunday’s game, the Chiefs told themselves to embrace a setting they knew would be foreign to most of them: a road playoff game. Since Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018, the Chiefs had played in a league-leading 15 postseason games, all of them either at their home venue, Arrowhead Stadium, or a neutral site for that year’s Super Bowl.
“I was very excited,” Mahomes said. “I knew the fans were going to be rowdy. I think guys took it as a challenge. I love being at Arrowhead and playing in front of that crowd. But when you’re on the road, it’s you versus them. It’s you versus everybody in the stadium. You have to come together as a team.”
Inside Highmark’s cramped visitors locker room, receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling smiled when he explained just how unwelcome the Chiefs were in Buffalo, starting Saturday afternoon when they arrived at their hotel.
“It was lit, man,” Valdes-Scantling said. “We’re pulling up, and everybody is throwing snowballs at the bus and shooting the bird. As soon as we got to the hotel, fans (were) screaming at us. It was a crazy atmosphere. It’s a really good feeling to make them all be quiet.”
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For much of Sunday evening, however, the Bills’ fans were raucous, a crowd that threw snow into the sky when quarterback Josh Allen scored the game’s first touchdown on a 5-yard run. The Bills scored 10 points in their first two possessions, controlling the game’s tempo with their running attack of Allen and running backs James Cook and Ty Johnson. Even after the Chiefs took their first lead late in the second quarter, the Bills responded with a perfect 75-yard drive that ended with Allen running right through the middle of the Chiefs defense for a 2-yard touchdown.
By halftime, the Bills had run 41 plays. The Chiefs, meanwhile, had just 21.
To start the second half, the Chiefs defense — a unit that finished the regular season allowing just 17.3 points per game — was without its top run-stuffing defensive tackle (Derrick Nnadi, who missed the game with an elbow injury), its most athletic linebacker (Willie Gay, who aggravated a neck injury) and its top deep safety (Mike Edwards, who sustained a concussion).
“Our depth was tested a lot,” linebacker Drue Tranquill said. “I don’t think a lot of people gave us a chance. People have counted our offense out all year long. In the biggest game of the year, we showed why we’re the defending champs. This was a team win. The offense carried the load.”
Because of the deafening crowd noise, Mahomes wasn’t sure he communicated his pre-snap adjustment loud enough for Valdes-Scantling to hear before the Chiefs’ first play of the third quarter. When the ball was snapped, however, both players recognized the Bills’ man-to-man coverage, leading Mahomes to complete a 30-yard pass to Valdes-Scantling, the type of highlight the two struggled to connect on throughout much of the season.
In fact, Mahomes completed all three of his deep passes for 84 yards, his most such completions in a game this season, according to Next Gen Stats.
“You have guys like Marquez, who has struggled at points this year, and he made some massive catches for us to help our team win,” Tranquill said.
The Chiefs scored a touchdown on their first two possessions of the second half. Mahomes was exceptional, too. He scrambled when necessary, was accurate in windy conditions and threw two touchdowns to tight end Travis Kelce. The second moved the duo ahead of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski for the most postseason touchdown connections (16) in NFL history.
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When the third quarter ended, Mahomes had completed 14 of his 18 passes for 199 yards without being sacked. But the Chiefs defense had allowed 168 rushing yards, a season high.
“I went over to the defense and I told them, ‘Y’all shut it down and we’ll win,’” Mahomes said. “They did. It was a team win. That’s what you need in the playoffs.”
Emblematic of their season, the Chiefs’ offensive players needed to rely on their defensive teammates, too.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Chiefs had two opportunities to score. Their best opportunity came after the Bills failed to convert on a fake punt deep in their territory. Two plays later, though, Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman caught a pop-pass behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled when he tried to extend his arms near the pylon, the ball rolling into the end zone and out of bounds for the game’s lone turnover.
Hardman touched the ball twice in the game, fumbling each time in the red zone. The second one cost the Chiefs a likely 10-point lead with 11 minutes left.
The Chiefs’ next possession didn’t last long, either. For the first time, Mahomes had three consecutive failed passing plays, two incompletions and a scramble, near midfield.
“When things went bad, we didn’t pin it on each other,” pass rusher Chris Jones said. “We all understand that there’s more plays to be made. This is one heck of a brotherhood.”
The Chiefs shut out the Bills in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the epitome of this game, man,” Valdes-Scantling said of the Chiefs’ teamwork. “The defense played a really good offense, and when they needed to get those stops, they did it. That’s who they’ve been all year. They’re so talented at every level, even with the injuries. We don’t win without them.”
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Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo relied on his best personnel, his dime package. With three safeties on the field — Reid, Deon Bush and rookie Chamarri Conner — the Chiefs’ secondary prevented Allen from completing any pass on which the ball traveled more than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage.
Jones was exceptional, too. He created enough pressure to affect Allen’s final two pass attempts, both of which fell incomplete.
“It’s all about being relentless,” Jones said of pursuing Allen. “You’re just trying to limit his playmaking ability, especially on the ground. When they go in (shotgun), you don’t know if they’re going to run it or if it’s a pass. You have to transition to pass rushing but also be cognizant of your rushing lanes. All of that’s going on in a matter of 2.3 seconds. It takes a lot of commitment and unselfish play amongst the D-line.”
The Chiefs’ stop just outside the red zone in the closing minutes forced the Bills to try a potential game-tying field goal.
Bills kicker Tyler Bass entered the game having made all nine of his field-goal attempts in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter when his team was either tied or trailing by three points. But he had never attempted such a kick in an elimination game. Bass watched his 44-yard attempt miss wide right.
Next to Bass was Reid, who waved his arms in the air to signal the kick was no good before the officials near the goal post could signal the same to the fans. Linebacker Leo Chenal showed his astonishment by putting both of his hands on his helmet.
“I just couldn’t really see it,” center Creed Humphrey, who was sitting on the bench, said of the kick. “I just heard the crowd go silent.”
Tranquill, a five-year veteran, said he realized he was going to play in the first championship game of his career when Bills fans began throwing snowballs at him in anger.
“It was unreal,” Tranquill said. “There were a lot of words being shouted at their fans. That’s why football is awesome. You hear all the talk this week of, ‘We finally get them at home!’
“It was a 15-round, blow-for-blow match. I felt (late) in the fourth quarter, in the 15th round, that we had the blows to give to help us win. Man, it’s why you train and play this game, for moments like this.”
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