Whenever the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs square off, the game is typically billed as a rivalry between two of the game’s great quarterbacks: Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
It’s the rightful framing, considering the two signal callers have combined to win three regular season MVPs while delivering multiple shootouts in the playoffs — where the Chiefs have a 4-0 record against the Bills since the 2020 season.
What Buffalo showed in its 28-21 win over Kansas City on Sunday, however, is that it’s not Allen who needs to deliver a monster performance to finally knock out Mahomes in the postseason.
Instead, it’s the Bills’ defense that can finally tip the scales in their favor come playoff time.
Buffalo absolutely stymied Mahomes on Sunday, forcing him into his worst game of the season. Mahomes finished 15 of 34 for 226 yards and an interception in the loss. Not only was it the lowest passer rating (57.2) he’s posted this season, but it was also the worst single-game completion percentage (44.1%) of his career.
The 21 points the Chiefs scored were their fewest since Week 2, snapping a five-game streak in which Kansas City had scored at least 28 points against every opponent.
“They’re the pinnacle of what you want your franchise to be. They’ve been that for the last eight years,” Allen said postgame. “Any time you get a chance to play the best and you can come away with a victory, you’re going to be feeling pretty good.”
The Bills’ pass rush played a major role Sunday, not dissimilar to the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles were able to beat Mahomes in his two Super Bowl losses. Buffalo sacked Mahomes three times, and pressured him on numerous other dropbacks.
Joey Bosa, the defensive end who signed a one-year contract with the Bills in March, played the kind of game Buffalo dreamed of when it signed him. He sacked Mahomes twice, pressuring him 10 times in total.
Overall, the Bills pressured Mahomes on 52.6% of his dropbacks Sunday, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. That’s 14.3% higher than Buffalo’s pressure rate in any of the teams’ previous nine matchups.
“Just proud of everybody, the way we rushed,” Bosa said at his locker after the win, adding that he feels “reinvigorated” in his first season with his new team.
The Bills now need the defense from Sunday to show up against the Chiefs in the playoffs, which has been an issue for the team in the past.
Buffalo has actually won five straight regular-season games against Kansas City. In those five contests, the Chiefs have averaged only 19.8 points.
In the four playoff meetings between Mahomes and Allen, however, Kansas City has averaged 34 points — besting the Bills’ 28.3 scoring average in those games. Entering Sunday, Allen had actually been better in the playoffs compared to the regular season when facing the Chiefs, completing his passes at a higher rate and improving his passer rating. It’s the defense that has fallen off every time.
Of course, whether or not Buffalo and Kansas City meet in the postseason for the fifth time in the last six seasons is still a question. Neither team is leading its division after Sunday’s game. And if the playoffs were to begin immediately, the Chiefs — currently in eighth place in the AFC — would actually miss them for the first time in Mahomes’ career.
There is obviously plenty of football left to be played between now and January, when the postseason will actually begin. The trade deadline could play a major role for some contenders, and injuries are almost always a factor in which is the last team standing.
And Sunday’s result is not something the Bills haven’t been able to do in previous regular seasons. But if Buffalo is finally going to take down its biggest obstacle to making a Super Bowl, it won’t simply be about Allen outplaying Mahomes. It will be about the Bills’ defense trying to keep a legendary quarterback in check.
Said Buffalo coach Sean McDermott after the game: “We’re not where we need to be, but I saw the team come together and when it got tough, they stood tall.”
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