Chiefs punch ticket to sixth consecutive AFC Championship
ORCHARD PARK, Ny. (KMIZ)
The Kansas City Chiefs are heading back to the AFC Championship game for a sixth straight season after defeating the Buffalo Bills 27-24 at Highmark Stadium on Sunday night in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Patrick Mahomes has made it to the conference title game every season since taking over as Kansas City's starting quarterback in 2018.
Sunday night's game featured six lead changes between the Chiefs and Bills. Both teams traded field goals in the opening quarter, but Buffalo found the end zone twice in the 15 minutes before halftime while Kansas City scored just one touchdown and a field goal.
The Chiefs trailed 17-13 to start the second half, but Kansas City marched down the field. Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for a 22-yard touchdown pass to take a 20-17 lead. Buffalo responded on its next possession, capping off a 15-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Khalil Shakir to take a 24-20 lead over the Chiefs. Then, Kansas City answered on its next drive with a 4-yard touchdown run from Isiah Pacheco to retake the lead 27-24 to start the fourth quarter.
On Buffalo's final offensive possession, Allen and the Bills were stopped on third down to set up a 44-yard field goal for Tyler Bass, but his kick missed wide right. The Chiefs got the ball back, and Pacheco picked up a first down with back-to-back runs of eight yards and three yards respectively to run out the clock.
Mahomes finished this game with 215 passing yards and two touchdowns. Both of his touchdown passes went to Kelce, who posted 75 receiving yards on five catches. That quarterback-receiver duo of Mahomes and Kelce has now connected for 16 career postseason touchdowns, breaking the NFL record previously held by Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
Pacheco also put together a solid performance on the ground, carrying the ball 15 times for 97 rushing yards and one score.
Up next - Kansas City is bound for Baltimore. The Chiefs will look to book a trip to back-to-back Super Bowls when they face the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m.
