After watching quarterback Josh Allen bounce off two Kansas City Chiefs defenders before crossing the goal line on a stunning 26-yard run, Bills receiver Khalil Shakir couldn’t contain his excitement, joining the packed Buffalo stadium in a chorus of screams.
Allen’s touchdown on fourth-and-2 with just 2:16 left sealed Buffalo’s 30-21 victory, keeping the Bills (9-2) in the race for the AFC’s top seed and dashing the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs’ hopes for an undefeated season.
“When Josh takes off, I find myself just watching, like, ‘Wow, he’s different,’” Shakir admitted. “When he took off today, I just started yelling. I couldn’t stop yelling. I was blanking in the head.”
Bills fans echoed Shakir’s sentiment, chanting “MVP!” as they watched the replay of Allen bolting up the middle to secure the win in the latest showdown against the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs (9-1), who had ended Buffalo’s playoff runs in three of the past four seasons.
With this win, Allen evened his record to 4-4 (including playoffs) against the Chiefs. He acknowledged the high stakes when coach Sean McDermott decided to go for it on fourth down instead of opting for a field goal.
“I appreciated coach for trusting us,” said Allen, who took off up the right hash mark, shrugged off linebacker Nick Bolton, and maintained momentum to reach the end zone despite being tackled by safety Bryan Cook.
“Any time you give the ball back to Pat (Mahomes) and that offense, down six with the game on the line, I like their odds in that situation,” Allen explained. “So we wanted six or seven points to try to make it a two-score game.”
Buffalo’s defense cemented the triumph when linebacker Terrel Bernard intercepted Mahomes during the Chiefs’ last-ditch drive.
James Cook had two rushing touchdowns in the first half, while Allen connected with Curtis Samuel for a 12-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter. The Bills established and maintained the lead after Tyler Bass’s 33-yard field goal made it 16-14 at the end of the first half.
The defeat marked the end of the Chiefs as the NFL’s last undefeated team. Kansas City had shown a knack for winning close games, including a streak of 15 straight victories dating back to December 2023.
“The undefeated thing was cool. But that’s not our ultimate goal. So we’ll keep building toward that,” Mahomes commented.
“That’s a good football team. Nothing to hang your head on losing to them,” he added. “We feel like we can play better. So we’ll get back to work and try to use this as a spark so we can be a better football team in the end.”
There’s a possibility that these teams will clash again in the playoffs, where the Chiefs have historically dominated. Despite Buffalo winning four straight regular-season meetings starting in 2021, the Chiefs have bested them in three consecutive playoff matchups, including a tense 27-24 win in Buffalo during January’s divisional round.
“It’s a great game to learn from for some of our young guys. Two good teams play each other; the margin between winning and losing is small,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid reflected. “We can all learn from it and take something out of it to make us better down the road. And we’ll do that.”
Mahomes completed 23 of 33 passes for 196 yards, throwing three touchdown passes — two to tight end Noah Gray and one to Xavier Worthy — but also had two interceptions.
The Chiefs had shown resilience in their prior nine games, winning by a combined 58 points with four victories coming on the final play. Last week, they edged out Denver 16-14 thanks to Leo Chenal’s blocked field goal attempt as time expired. However, this time, there were no late-game heroics from a Chiefs offense that posted a season-low 259 yards.
The Bills have now won six consecutive games and are edging closer to their fifth straight AFC East title. Buffalo is 9-2 or better through 11 games for just the sixth time in team history, the last instance being 1992.
“No statement,” McDermott said of the win’s significance. “This is not the finish line.”
As they head into their bye week, the Bills have a chance to recover from injuries. Amari Cooper made two catches for 58 yards despite a sore left wrist, and wide receiver Keon Coleman (right wrist) and tight end Dalton Kincaid (knee) were sidelined.
Allen himself played through a sore throwing hand, which was examined during the game. He finished 27 of 40 for 262 yards with a touchdown pass, a rushing touchdown, and an interception.
The rushing touchdown was the 58th of Allen’s career, moving him into second place on the Bills’ all-time list, surpassing O.J. Simpson and trailing only Thurman Thomas by seven. Allen’s two-touchdown performance also tied him with Jim Kelly for the most touchdowns in team history, each boasting 244.
