The dream of the three-peat is alive and well.
For the third straight year, and the fifth time in the past six seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to the Super Bowl. The back-to-back champs now have the chance to achieve a feat no other NFL franchise has accomplished: Winning three consecutive Super Bowls.
The Chiefs defeated a familiar foe to get one step closer to history, once again edging the Buffalo Bills — Kansas City’s fourth victory in as many post-season clashes between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen ended with Mahomes & Co. taking a knee and running out the clock to settle the score at 32-29.
It’s only fitting now that the lone team standing between the Chiefs and a special piece of football history is also a familiar opponent. Awaiting the Chiefs on football’s biggest stage are the Philadelphia Eagles, who ran all over the Washington Commanders to the tune of a dominant 55-23 NFC Championship victory to end Jayden Daniels’ remarkable rookie campaign one game shy of the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs and Eagles went head-to-head just two years ago in Super Bowl LVII, a 38-35 victory for Kansas City and the first of back-to-back championships. Before we delve into a two-week discussion of what this matchup means for both sides, we’re collecting our top takeaways from an eventful Championship Sunday that saw the Chiefs and Eagles emerge victorious.
First down, or not? Perhaps we’ll never really know
Every time the Chiefs and Bills meet, there emerges a defining play that turns the tides for one side or seals victory for the other. Late in their Week 11 meeting, it was Josh Allen bulldozing his way into the endzone for a 26-yard rushing touchdown. In last January’s Divisional Round bout, it was a kick that sailed wide right. Before that, it was a 13-second drive that changed the Chiefs’ fortunes — and the overtime rulebook, too.
Sunday night’s AFC Championship was filled with moments that could’ve finally changed Buffalo’s fortunes against the Chiefs. There was, for example, Mack Hollins’ 34-yard TD catch against top cornerback Trent McDuffie to close out what had been a fairly lop-sided first half favouring Kansas City. And then there was the Bills’ next score — the one that saw running back James Cook announce his presence with an acrobatic outstretched right arm for a lead-changing six points to open the second-half scoring. Or the quick three-and-out forced by Buffalo’s defence to keep Mahomes & Co. without a third-quarter score.
But instead, it might just be a pair of failed fourth-down conversions in the fourth quarter that define this loss for the Bills. First came a controversial call that Bills fans may begrudgingly remember most. Just over two minutes into the fourth quarter, Buffalo faced a fourth and 1 at the Chiefs’ 41-yard line, with Kansas City’s history of late-game drives surely haunting them, head coach Sean McDermott decided to go for it, and put the ball in Allen’s hands for a quarterback sneak.
He came up just short, according to the on-field officials — though, a scroll through social media will show you some screenshots suggesting otherwise. And a review of the call didn’t reveal enough evidence to overturn the decision. So, the ball was handed to Patrick Mahomes, who scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession.
Was the correct call made? The debate will surely rage on all week, especially considering the Chiefs’ recent history of favourable officiating has been in the spotlight in the wake of last Saturday’s victory over Houston.
Should McDermott have gone for it? That’s a debate, too — one of many that will stem from this game, along with his decision to try another QB sneak after the play was unsuccessful earlier in the game. The Chiefs were all over the Bills’ short-gain attempts in crucial situations. (Note to Philly: Better strengthen the Brotherly Shove.)
Did that call have the power to change the outcome of this game? We’ll never really know. The Bills tied things up on their next possession with a catch from Curtis Samuel, before the Chiefs regained the lead with a field goal. There was plenty of time on the clock. Had tight end Dalton Kincaid caught a long toss on fourth down from a much-pressured Josh Allen with two minutes left in regulation — another game-defining play that launches many what-ifs — we might be talking about how the Bills won despite the close call on downs.
All that is what makes this game so fun, so frustrating, and so very fascinating.
Mahomes beats Allen at his own game
No team scored more rushing touchdowns than the Bills in 2024. Running back James Cook led the scoring on the ground, and Josh Allen ran in more rushing TDs than any other AFC QB (only Jalen Hurts scored more rushing TDs among QBs league-wide).
And yet in Sunday’s AFC Championship, it was the quarterback opposite Allen putting up the biggest runs. While Allen was held without a rushing TD after posting two against the Ravens’ top-rated run defence last week, Mahomes ran in two — his first career game, in fact, with more than one rushing TD.
While the two QBs had very similar rushing numbers in the end — both ran 11 times, Mahomes for 43 yards and Allen for 39 — Mahomes’ clutch scampers earned his side the victory in another close one. Mahomes’ Chiefs have now won 17 straight one-score games.
In fact, when facing one of the league’s highest-scoring offences in the Bills, Kansas City made an offensive splash of its own — the Chiefs’ 32 points Sunday night marked their highest offensive output all season.
Mahomes’ wide receivers stepped up, too, with the Chiefs playing a much more dynamic passing game than we saw last week. Eight different players caught at least one pass from Mahomes, including four wide receivers held off the score sheet in the divisional round. That gave shades of Buffalo’s offence — Allen’s well-balanced passing attack has been one of the Bills’ biggest strengths all year. And while Buffalo’s offence was strong — Allen threw for 237 yards, just eight shy of Mahomes, and connected with nine pass-catchers, neither QB threw a pick. It came down to the details, and in that regard, Mahomes simply cannot be beaten.
Mahomes has carved his legacy out of elevating his game in the biggest moments, and Sunday night brought yet more evidence of exactly that.
Let’s hear it for history
Maybe you’re tired of seeing the team in red on football’s biggest stage… again. Perhaps you’re not so enamoured by No. 15 heading to Super Bowl No. 5, in search of trophy No. 4, and his third straight ring.
We had barely a year between the end of the New England Patriots’ two-decade run of excellence before the Chiefs took over all the dynasty talk. But regardless of your rooting interests, we’re watching something truly special unfold.
Mahomes is now 4-0 against Allen’s Bills in the playoffs — the team that has bested him in the regular season more than any other opponent simply cannot catch him in the playoffs. That’s a testament to just how locked in Mahomes is in the post-season. Sunday’s win was Mahomes’ 17th post-season victory in 20 starts — that ranks him second all-time among quarterbacks, behind only Tom Brady (35). His fifth Super Bowl appearance has him tied for second most behind Brady’s nine (and at age 29 he has plenty of time to catch it).
We’re witnessing history, and more could be made in two weeks.
Barkley steals the show as Eagles run over Commanders
The Washington Commanders opened Sunday’s NFC Championship with their longest drive of the season, an 18-play series that included two successful fourth-down conversions, ended with a field goal, and took a whopping seven minutes off the clock in the process. It was only three points, but it felt like a bit of a message to their NFC East foes about the Commanders’ intentions to dictate the pace of the game.
It took the Philadelphia Eagles just a single play to respond with a message of their own.
Jalen Hurts handed the ball to running back Saquon Barkley and let the Eagles’ MVP fly. Barkley opened his first career NFC Championship with a thrilling 60-yard touchdown run that launched the home crowd into a frenzy and set the tone for the rest of Sunday’s matinee matchup.
All that, in just 18 seconds. And that was only the beginning — Barkley cashed in another four minutes later with a four-yard dash into the end zone to give Philly a 14-3 lead to close out the first quarter. He finished the game with three touchdowns. The Eagles’ run game was unstoppable on Sunday, with six of Philadelphia’s seven touchdowns on the day scored on the ground. According to ESPN, that ties them with the 1940s Bears for most rushing TDs.
As he’s been all season long, Barkley was the biggest driving force in the Eagles’ rushing attack against Washington, tallying 118 yards and three TDs on 15 carries. He was a clutch blocker on several occasions, too, playing a supporting role in Hurts’ trio of rushing touchdowns, and was the first to celebrate fellow running back Will Shipley’s late-game score, too. (Shipley, who entered the game in relief of the injured Kenneth Gainwell, did his best impression of Barkley with his own electric 57-yard sprint earlier in the drive to set up the TD.)
Barkley now has five touchdowns in two games since being held off the scoresheet on Wild Card Weekend.
Too many turnovers haunt Commanders’ offence
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has been lighting up opposing defences all season, and after stunning the top-seeded Detroit Lions last week the rookie was in position to knock off the second seed, too, with another stellar performance.
While Daniels showed up in Philadelphia with his signature poise and dynamic play, he couldn’t muster up the magic needed to overcome the Eagles’ defence.
Instead, Daniels’ Cinderella run ends at the hands of a divisional foe, a lost turnover battle proving to be the biggest difference for Daniels’ hopes of matching Philadelphia’s production.
Turnover troubles struck early for Washington, a fumble by Dyami Brown at Washington’s 48-yard line putting Philly in a favourable position to score a touchdown on their next drive to increase their first-quarter lead to 14-3. A fumbled kick return gave the ball back to the Eagles in the second quarter for back-to-back successful TD drives. A third fumble in the third quarter saw the Commanders’ momentum halted — any hopes of a late-game surge were snuffed from there, with the Eagles running away with the game in the fourth quarter.
Turnover battles actually favoured the Commanders in their first two post-season wins, having not turned the ball over in these playoffs until Sunday and forcing errors by opposing offences. But they were simply out-matched by Philadelphia — league leaders in forced fumbles — on Sunday, and begin their off-season because of it.
