Going into this intense game, the Buffalo Bills had lost the last 3 of 4 playoff matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs. This marked the first time the Chiefs would face off away from home at the Buffalo Bills’ stadium in playoff conditions. The winner of this matchup would go on to the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens. 

1st Half

To start the game, the Bills received the ball. On their first two plays, they lost seven yards causing a 3rd-and-17. On 3rd-and-17, Josh Allen ran and threw a lateral pass to Ty Johnson for a gain of 16. On 4th-and-1, the Bills converted with a quarterback sneak. The Chiefs defense held the Bills to another 3rd down, but were swiftly shut down when Josh Allen made a 15-yard pass to Dalton Kincaid. The Bills drove down the field a bit more but would ultimately be stopped on the 9-yard line and forced to kick a field goal. Tyler Bass made the kick to give the Bills the lead 3-0. The Chiefs received the ball and started off hot with Patrick Mahomes throwing a 27-yard pass to Rashee Rice to put the Chiefs in opposing territory. The Chiefs gained another first down with a pass from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce to put the Chiefs in field goal range. However, the Chiefs were swiftly stopped on the Bills 29-yard line leading to a 47-yard field goal made by Harrison Butker. The Bills received the ball on the next drive and quickly drove down the field with a rushing touchdown scored by quarterback Josh Allen, leading to a score of 10-3. The Chiefs built up momentum on the following drive with a run made by Isaiah Pacheco for a gain of yardage. Patrick Mahomes then threw a  28-yard pass to Travis Kelce, putting the Chiefs in field goal range. Shortly after being forced to kick a 29-yard field goal, the Chiefs were back on the board with a score of 10-6. On the next drive, the Bills were swiftly stopped and forced to return the ball back to the Chiefs.  The Chiefs took this opportunity and wasted no time to put points back on the board. Patrick Mahomes went on to score a  22-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. The Bills received the ball back with 3:33 left in the half and put a great drive together with passes to James Cook, Stefon Diggs, Latavius Murray, and Khalil Shakir. The play ended with a rushing touchdown made by Josh Allen.

2nd half

The Chiefs received the ball to start the second half. The Chiefs started off the half hot with a 30-yard bomb throw made by Patrick Mahomes to Marquez Valdes Scantling, putting them in opposing territory. Two plays later, Patrick Mahomes escaped the pocket to rush for 23 yards, putting the Chiefs inside the red zone. With momentum high, the Chiefs were able to score a touchdown with a tight end screen to Travis Kelce for his second touchdown of the game making the score 20-17. The Bills began the next drive by running the ball with James Cook and Ty Johnson, who then led the Bills to the red zone. After a Chiefs sack, Josh Allen found Khalil Shakir in the corner of the endzone for a 13-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 24-20. The Chiefs received the ball following this play and took off down field. Patrick Mahomes went on to throw a 32-yard pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to put the Chiefs back inside the redzone. After a screen pass to Rashee Rice putting them inside the 5, they punched in a touchdown with Isaiah Pacheco, making the score 27-24. On the next drive, the Chiefs defense held the Bills to a 4th-and-5. The Bills brought out their punt team but faked the kick with a direct snap to Damar Hamlin. This attempt was unsuccessful and went for no gain, giving the Chiefs the ball on the Bills’ 32-yard line. The Chiefs started off the drive hot with a 29-yard rush from Isaiah Pacheco placing them on the Bills 3-yard line in position to score. On the next play, the Chiefs ran a jet sweep with Mecole Hardman while trying to reach the end zone before fumbling the ball. This play resulted in a touchback.  The Bills received the ball back on their own 20 in the following drive. However, this was short lived and the Bills were forced to go 3-and-out. The Chiefs received the ball with hopes to take some time off the clock, but their drive was also short lived,  as they punted the ball with 9 minutes left in regulation. The Bills went into the next drive with their season on the line hoping to get some points to tie or take the lead. The Bills began to cook up a nice drive with a few runs made by James Cook and a few passes to Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, and Trent Sheerfield Jr. to put them in opposing territory. However, on the Chiefs’ 26-yard line, they were held to a 4th down and forced to kick a field goal. With the Bills’ season on the line, it came down to this 44-yard kick. However, kicker Tyler Bass missed the field goal, causing the Bills to lose any hope of advancing to the AFC Championship. The Chiefs went on to drive down the field before going into victory formation. The game ended 27-24 with the Chiefs advancing to the AFC Championship.