| Advertisement |
Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The Kansas City Chiefs staged an improbable final drive in regulation and ultimately rallied for a 42-36 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium to conclude a wild divisional-round weekend. Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes found tight end Travis Kelce in the corner of the end zone from eight yards out on the first possession of overtime to send Kansas City to its fourth consecutive AFC Championship Game.
Advertisement
The Chiefs will host the Cincinnati Bengals in next week's AFC title game. The Bengals defeated the top-seeded Tennessee Titans with a walk-off field goal Saturday at Nissan Stadium to advance.
"The guys didn't flinch," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. "You talk about an epic game, well, that's the way the players took it. They had tremendous respect for Buffalo, and they knew it was going to be a battle and they kept going."
The Bills took a 29-26 lead with 1:54 remaining in the fourth quarter when quarterback Josh Allen hit receiver Gabriel Davis for a 27-yard touchdown. However, Mahomes and the Chiefs immediately answered with Tyreek Hill's 64-yard receiving score with 1:02 left.
Not to be outdone, Allen responded with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Davis, his fourth of the game. The score put Buffalo in front 36-33 with just 13 seconds to go, putting the Bills on the cusp of their second straight AFC title game appearance.
With two timeouts left and limited time on the clock, Mahomes put together an unlikely final drive and pushed the Chiefs into field-goal range with a 19-yard strike to Hill and a 25-yard completion to Kelce.
Harrison Butker, who missed two kicks earlier in the game, then booted a 49-yarder as time expired to force overtime.
"We got tremendous leaders on both sides of the ball, whether it's offense, defense or special teams," Hill said. "Nobody panicked. Nobody was like, 'Oh, the game is over, there's 13 seconds left.' We just made plays."
In what may have been his only mistake for Buffalo all night, Allen incorrectly called the overtime coin toss, giving Kansas City the ball to begin the extra quarter.
Mahomes promptly marched the Chiefs down the field against the Bills' top-ranked defense and capped the drive with the 8-yard touchdown to Kelce.
"They made a couple more plays than we did obviously down the stretch," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "The guys played their guts out, and you got to do a little better on the last couple of plays there."
Allen finished with 329 passing yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions for the Bills, who dropped their ninth consecutive road playoff game. He also added 11 carries for a team-best 68 yards.
Davis exploded for eight receptions, 201 yards and four receiving touchdowns against the Chiefs. He became the first player in NFL history to catch four touchdowns in a postseason game, and he also was just the ninth player ever to compile 200 or more receiving yards in a playoff contest.
Mahomes completed 33 of 44 pass attempts for 378 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a team-high 69 yards and a score.
Hill ended with 11 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. Kelce had eight grabs for 96 yards and a receiving score.
Sunday night's instant classic between the Chiefs and Bills concluded a wild and unpredictable divisional-round weekend. On Saturday, the Bengals and 49ers both advanced after walk-off field goals on the road against the top seeds in their conferences.
Earlier Sunday, Rams kicker Matt Gay booted a 30-yard field goal as time expired to push Los Angeles past the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
