Screaming and shouting, tears of joy, and a huge sense of pride. This is what all Buffalo Bills fans felt last night as their franchise quarterback tossed the go-ahead touchdown with thirteen seconds left on the clock. Josh Allen led two go-ahead drives with under two minutes left in regulation. The Bills seemed destined to finally knock off the Chiefs. Despite Allen’s stellar play and what seemed like magic, the Chiefs still somehow came out on top.
Allen Completes the Comeback… For Now
It was truly a Goliath versus Goliath battle. As Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen and Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes were trading haymakers and daggers in the form of touchdowns. On what would turn out to be his last time touching the ball that game. Allen stunned everyone watching by completing the Bills’ roaring comeback. Allen left the team with one job, to run out the last thirteen seconds of the clock. That number thirteen would come back to haunt the Bills and their fans. As the team kicked off following the touchdown, they elected to kick a touchback instead of a squib kick. This gave the Chiefs every possible second. As Mahomes took the field, that is when heartbreak began to rise on the horizon for the Bills and their faithful fan base known as Bills Mafia.
The Buffalo Bills Defense Folds
Before Mahomes ran onto the field, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid told his quarterback, “When it’s grim, be the Grim Reaper.” The Grim Reaper was exactly who Mahomes would become. He turned the almost impossible into the possible. Needing only ten seconds and two plays to get the Chiefs in field goal range to send the game to overtime. The Bills defense switched to a prevent defense and were protecting the sidelines to not allow the Chiefs to utilize getting out of bounds to stop the clock. That’s where they messed up, as there was no need for that. The Chiefs had all three of their timeouts and could stop the clock at will.
The Bills’ defense allowed a painfully easy twenty-yard completion to wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Somehow that only shaved five seconds off the clock. Bills head coach Sean McDermott would call a timeout before the next play, but he had already revealed the formation his defense would be in. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce drew up his own play in the huddle to beat the defense the Bills were in. It would prove to be the easiest play he made of the night. Kelce easily split the Bills’ prevent-zone running right past cornerback Levi Wallace. Mahomes and him connected for a forty-three-yard play. This easily put the Chiefs in field goal range. With three seconds left on the clock, the Chiefs called a timeout and Harrison Butker kicked the game-tying field goal.
The Mahomes Reaper is Born
In what many are calling the greatest playoff game ever, there was more action on the way. The feeling everywhere was that the winner of the overtime coin toss would be the winner of the game and the host of next week’s AFC Championship game. Sure enough, the Chiefs won the toss and the Grim Reaper Mahomes laid the Bills’ season to rest. Football fans everywhere watched as Mahomes easily took his team down the field and tossed the game-winning touchdown to Travis Kelce. Mahomes had almost single-handedly, acting just like the Reaper, ripped the heart and soul out of all of Bills Mafia. All of this happened while Josh Allen had a stat line of 329 passing yards, 4 passing touchdowns, on a 73% completion percentage, and 68 rushing yards, per ESPN (https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3918298/josh-allen). He was forced to sit on the sideline not able to do anything.
Allen did everything he could do to get his team the win. While he nor his coaching staff will ever admit it, his defense let him down big time. The number one defense from the regular season failed their fearless leader. Despite a literal almost perfect performance from superstar Josh Allen, The Mahomes Reaper came out on top. The Chiefs will play host to the Bengals in next week’s AFC Championship game, With the prize being a ticket to Superbowl 56 at SoFi Stadium in California.
