Fittingly, the Kansas City Chiefs’ pursuit of a three-peat will include yet another playoff showdown with their playoff rival. On Sunday, the Chiefs will face the Bills for the right to once again represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. This will mark the seventh time the two franchises have met in the playoffs, and if Sunday’s game is like the teams’ two most recent playoff games, we’re all in for a treat.
There’s some irony in Buffalo being the team Kansas City needs to beat if it’s going to make history. Way back in 1967, the two teams played for the right to play in the first Super Bowl. The two teams would go on to play in five more playoff games, with two of those games deciding the winner of the AFC. Three years ago, they played in arguably the greatest playoff game of all time.
Let’s go through each of the previous six playoff games between these two teams, starting with their first matchup.
1966 AFC Championship: Chiefs 31, Bills 7
The AFL’s two premier teams, the Chiefs turned a tight game into a runaway in the fourth quarter. Mike Garrett scored each of the Chiefs’ fourth-quarter touchdowns, while Kansas City’s defense shut out Jack Kemp and the rest of Buffalo’s talented offense during the final three quarters. The Chiefs picked off Kemp twice and sacked him four more times, as the Bills came up short in their quest of winning three straight AFL titles.
Kansas City fought hard, but ultimately fell to Vince Lombardi’s Packers in Super Bowl I. Hank Stram’s team would win the Super Bowl three years later in what was the final game played before the AFL-NFL merger.
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1991 AFC divisional round: Bills 37, Chiefs 14
The script was flipped when the two teams faced off a quarter-century later. Marty Schottenheimer was building something in Kansas City, but they weren’t quite ready for the juggernaut that was Marv Levy’s Bills, who were motivated to get back to the big game after losing by a point in the previous year’s Super Bowl.
Buffalo took control early and never let go. The catalyst for the Bills’ early success was Hall of Fame receiver Andre Reed, whose touchdown catches of 25 and 53 yards helped Buffalo race out to a 24-0 lead. Kansas City’s defense forced three turnovers, but its offense wasn’t able to do much against the Bills’ equally talented defense, led by Hall of Fame pass rusher Bruce Smith.
The Bills’ turnovers didn’t impact this game, but that wouldn’t be the case in that year’s Super Bowl. Four interceptions by quarterback Jim Kelly contributed to Buffalo’s 37-24 loss to Washington in Super Bowl XXVI.
1993 AFC Championship: Bills 30, Chiefs 13
Kansas City added two significant pieces on offense that offseason with the acquisitions of Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Marcus Allen. The duo led Kansas City to playoff wins over Pittsburgh and Houston to earn a rematch with Buffalo with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. Seemingly everyone was pulling for the Chiefs; no one wanted to see the Bills (who had lost the previous three Super Bowls) in the Super Bowl again, and there was the possibility of Montana facing his former team (the 49ers) in the big game.
Buffalo didn’t care what America wanted, though. In fact, the Bills were fueled by the naysayers, and they took it out on Montana and the rest of the Chiefs in a game that was surprisingly lopsided.
An Allen touchdown run did make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter. But without Montana, (who was knocked out of the game early in the second half), the Chiefs offense wasn’t able to keep it up. The Bills ultimately pulled away while earning an unprecedented fourth consecutive trip to the Super Bowl. The game’s final touchdown was scored by Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas, who rumbled for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries that day.
Buffalo would be on the wrong end of another 30-13 score in Super Bowl XXVIII, however, as Buffalo lost a second consecutive Super Bowl to the Cowboys. The Bills actually led the heavily favored Cowboys at halftime before Dallas scored 24 unanswered points in the second half.
2020 AFC Championship: Chiefs 38, Bills 24
The first playoff matchup between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Unlike their next two playoff matchups, this one was largely dominated by the Chiefs, who led by at least two scores for the final 34 minutes.
Kansas City really started to pile it on late in the third quarter, when Travis Kelce caught the first of his two touchdown passes that day from Mahomes. Allen did lead Buffalo to a pair of late scores, but the Chiefs ran the clock out after recovering an onside kick with just over three minutes left.
Allen had a big game statistically; he led both teams with 88 rushing yards while also throwing for 287 yards and two touchdowns. But his defense had no answer for Mahomes, Kelce and Tyreek Hill, who caught nine passes for 172 yards.
2021 AFC divisional round: Chiefs 42, Bills 36 (OT)
This game is on the short list of the greatest playoff games of all time. Ironically, many of the other iconic playoff games of all time (the Dolphins’ win over the Chiefs in the longest game of all time in 1971, Franco Harris’ “Immaculate Reception,” the Raiders’ “Sea of Hands” win over Miami in 1974, the Chargers’ “Epic in Miami” in 1981 and the “Tuck Rule” game) also took place in the divisional round.
Mahomes and Allen put on a show during the game’s final two minutes. Both quarterbacks pulled off incredible plays that included Mahomes’ 64-yard touchdown pass to Hill and Allen’s touchdown pass to Gabriel Davis with 17 seconds left that appeared to give the Bills the lead. But Mahomes’ completions of 19 yards to Hill and 25 yards to Kelce set up Harrison Butker’s game-tying field goal to force overtime.
The Chiefs won the overtime coin toss, and Mahomes and Co. made sure that Allen wouldn’t get the ball again the season. Kansas City needed just eight plays to win the game, with Kelce doing the honors with an 8-yard touchdown catch.
2023 AFC divisional round: Chiefs 27, Bills 24
Unlike their previous two matchups, this one was played in Buffalo, as it appeared that the Bills were finally in position to dethrone the Chiefs. Mahomes, however, showed that he was more than capable of winning playoff games on the road. Mahomes had plenty of help from running back Isiah Pacheco, who ran for 97 yards that included the go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter.
That proved to be the game’s final score, as Kansas City’s defense made several big stops down the stretch. The Chiefs were also aided by a missed Buffalo field goal with 6:40 left.
Kansas City won in Baltimore the following week before successfully defending its title against the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
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