Chiefs oust Bills again and will face Eagles with shot for first Super Bowl three-peat
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before they broke out the celebratory beverages in the locker room, the Kansas City Chiefs sipped cups of chicken broth on the sideline Sunday night to combat the frigid weather.
Comfort food. Makes sense.
Whereas the Chiefs were completely at home, securing yet another trip to the Super Bowl, the Buffalo Bills looked entirely out of their element.
The game was close, as per usual, with Kansas City winning 32-29, but isn’t that the way it always goes for this franchise of destiny? The Chiefs, who will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, were an astounding 11-0 this season in one-score games.
“It means we’re a team that deserves to be in the Super Bowl,” said receiver DeAndre Hopkins, traded to the Chiefs by Tennessee in October. “We play to the last second. We don’t give up. Lot of competitors, man. That says a lot about a team like that.”
Saquon Barkley rushes for 118 yards and three touchdowns as the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders and will face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
In two weeks, Kansas City will play Philadelphia, which soundly beat the NFC East rival Washington Commanders earlier Sunday in the NFC title game.
So, New Orleans will play host to a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago, when the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35.
On Sunday night, the packed house at Arrowhead Stadium saw six lead changes, a Chiefs turnover — the first since mid-November — and two fourth-down stops by Kansas City’s defense in the fourth quarter.
Buffalo’s Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes to one by Patrick Mahomes, but the Chiefs quarterback also ran for a couple of scores, including tucking the ball under his arm and powering 10 yards into the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Tight end Travis Kelce was the lead blocker clearing the way on that touchdown.
“It’s always great when you have people in front of you that are going to lay their body on the line to get you into the end zone,” Mahomes said.
Harrison Butker made the go-ahead, 35-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining, and Kansas City’s defense came up with a final stop to turn back the Bills.
With Mahomes at quarterback, the Chiefs are 4-0 against Buffalo in the postseason — even though the Allen-led Bills have a 4-1 record against Kansas City in the regular season.
“Some of these games are gut-wrenching,” said Kansas City coach Andy Reid, whose club has the chance to pull off an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat. “And I’ve got a lot of gut to wrench.”
Jokes aside, few people in NFL history have a resumé as robust as Reid, who grew up in Los Angeles, and whose playing career started at Marshall High and included a stop at Glendale College. Not only does he have more wins than any coach in Chiefs history, but also more than any in Eagles history. He was head coach in Philadelphia from 1999 through 2012, and went to four consecutive NFC championship games and a Super Bowl.
Jared Verse had said he hated Eagles fans before an NFC divisional playoff game, but the Philly faithful said they still respect what the Rams’ linebacker did.
Canton is the likely next stop for Reid, who has been an assistant or head coach in seven Super Bowls and 14 conference championship games, including seven consecutive AFC title games with the Chiefs.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said Reid “has to be in the conversation” of who is the greatest coach in the history of the league. Up there with the likes of Bill Belichick, Vince Lombardi and George Halas.
“Different time periods make it hard to compare coaches from different generations,” Hunt said. “Certainly having cleared 300 wins and the Super Bowl wins that he already has, AFC championships and NFC championships that he won, he’s got to be right there at the top.”
The Bills, meanwhile, were looking to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since losing four in a row from 1990 through ’93. Most of their players weren’t even born when the franchise last played on the league’s biggest stage.
“It’s not fun,” said Allen, looking down and speaking softly with grass stains on both shoulders of his white uniform. “But to be the champs you’ve got to beat the champs, and we didn’t do it tonight.”
These teams know each other well, and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo noticed a tendency for Allen to go over his left guard on short-yardage keepers. Kansas City reacted accordingly by shading its biggest bodies to that side.
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“They put big guys in there, and they played it well,” Allen said.
The big block on Mahomes’ fourth-quarter touchdown run was a reminder that Kelce can do the grunt work to go along with the glamour. His girlfriend, pop star Taylor Swift, was at the game and made a beeline for the trophy ceremony alongside Kelce’s mother.
Several minutes later, Travis Kelce and Swift walked back up the locker room tunnel, both smiling and his arm wrapped around her.
“Everybody was doing their job today,” Kelce said later. “That’s why we put up so many points today. That’s why we were scoring touchdowns. One-five [a reference to Mahomes’ jersey number] was playing the best that he’s played all year. That’s what you want to see going into the last game.”
The broth-sipping Chiefs are heading to a familiar place. Comfortable, confident and dangerous.
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