Bills Overcoming ‘Big Brother’ Chiefs Could Come Down to Centimeters

In competitive families, the younger sibling eventually develops enough talent and maturity to overtake the older ones. So, is this the year the Bills finally overtake the Chiefs in the playoffs?

“I think they're still the big brothers of the AFC,” said former NFL veteran Domonique Foxworth, referring to the Chiefs, on Thursday’s edition of Get Up. “I think that last year we saw them kind of struggle through the regular season, as much as a team can struggle that won as many games as they did.

“It'll be interesting to see when they come into this season, how well or how big the gap is between them and the rest of the AFC contenders. And if there's a different way that these teams start to look at and approach games against Patrick Mahomes and the previously unstoppable AFC Chiefs.”

They’ve been unstoppable against the Bills, at least in the postseason. Mahomes is 4-0 against Josh Allen in the playoffs, even though Allen owns the regular-season series, 4-1 (including four straight wins).

Harry Douglas is a bit more bullish on the Chiefs. He said Friday that the only way Kansas City fails to reach the playoffs is if pigs somehow evolve the ability to fly, and the only way the Bills can beat the Chiefs in the postseason is if another team upsets Kansas City first.

After Kansas City went into Buffalo and knocked off the Bills in the 2023 AFC postseason, Douglas heard a 10-year-old Bills fan tell his dad they were never going to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs.

“That stuck with me,” said Douglas, an ESPN analyst who played nine years as an NFL wide receiver. “They need somebody else to beat Kansas City before they actually play an AFC Championship Game so they can reach a Super Bowl.

“If you go 0-5 versus Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, there's going to be a lot of deflation within side of that organization and also that fan base.”

And while Bills Mafia is unified in its disdain for Mahomes, that fan base has been split over whether the Bills have given Allen enough weapons to overcome the Chiefs. Buffalo extended the contracts of wide receiver Khalil Shakir, cornerback Christian Benford and linebacker Terrel Bernard this offseason, but not running back James Cook. Keon Coleman, Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid don’t scare defensive coordinators.

This week, ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell ranked Buffalo’s skill players as the 28th-best in the NFL, with criteria that don’t include quarterbacks. Allen earned MVP honors by elevating the play of those around him, and when he couldn’t find anyone open, he beat opponents with his legs.

That’s what Allen did in Week 11 when he handed the Chiefs their first 2024 loss. Steve Spagnuolo called zone coverage late in the game, down 23-21 on fourth-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 26-yard line, and played zone. When Allen’s weapons couldn’t get open, the quarterback wowed the NFL with a game-icing touchdown run.

Then, in the AFC Championship Game at Kansas City, Spagnuolo sent Trent McDuffie on a fourth-and-5 blitz. The defensive coordinator wouldn’t have blitzed his No. 1 coverage cornerback without feeling confident in his players’ ability to cover the Bills. Still, Allen nearly made another spectacular play, but Kincaid couldn’t secure the pass.

In a game of centimeters, whether the Bills can get open against the Chiefs seems very significant in determining the AFC’s representative in San Francisco at Super Bowl LX.

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