How Chiefs Are Still Very Much in Playoffs, Despite Not Qualifying

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Living rent-free in someone’s head is an interesting concept, especially for the couch-relegated 2025 Chiefs.

How much Josh Allen and Sean McDermott allow Kansas City to squat inside their brains is a fascinating narrative dominating the Sunday NFL newscycle.

Another road playoff game for Bills

Buffalo (12-5) got dethroned in the AFC East by upstart New England (14-3), forcing the Bills to travel to Jacksonville (13-4) for a wild-card playoff game Sunday (12 p.m. CT, CBS).

And boarding the bus to the stadium Sunday morning could conjure memories of the last three road playoff games Buffalo has played – all losses to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

Most NFL observers know Allen has dominated the Chiefs in the regular season. He’s 5-1 with five straight victories, including a 28-21 triumph Nov. 2 at Highmark Stadium.

But Allen and McDermott are 0-4 against the Chiefs in the playoffs. In fact, in four of their last five trips to the postseason, the Bills have ended their Super Bowl quest in losses to the Chiefs. That ugly quartet includes a loss at home in the 2023 AFC divisional round.

Mahomes watching playoffs from home

And now that Mahomes and the Chiefs aren’t a threat to do it again, the pressure is on the Bills is at an all-time high.

Allen, 29, over his first 13 playoff starts – including those four losses to the Chiefs -- has 3,359 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes, 668 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns and even a touchdown reception. He’s averaging 309.8 combined passing and rushing yards per game in the postseason, most in league history among quarterbacks with 10-plus playoff starts.

But unlike Kansas City, where Mahomes has already captured three Super Bowls and advanced to five over his first eight years as a starter, the Bills have zero Super Bowl appearances since drafting Allen in 2018.

Plus, the reigning NFL MVP could be needing a win on Sunday against Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars in order to save Sean McDermott’s job.

When Baltimore fired John Harbaugh this week, ending the league’s second-longest active tenure among head coaches and handing that distinction to Kansas City’s Andy Reid, McDermott felt a bit of a vice-grip tightening to beat the Jaguars.

Both Harbaugh and McDermott are former assistant coaches under Reid.

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