Chiefs, Bucs to clash in Super Bowl,
Offence goes cold at worst possible time in K.C.
This is going to drive the Buffalo Bills crazy for a long, long time.
Not just that they were denied the chance to get back to the Super Bowl by the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The Chiefs, after all, are the defending champs, and have only been beaten twice this season.
Patrick Mahomes and his primary offensive playmates, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, are just excellent. Almost impossible to stop, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will likely find out in Super Bowl 55 in two weeks.
But what will make the Bills and their supporters ache for what might have been is the way this football game was lost. It was lost, primarily, because Buffalo’s very good offence couldn’t score when it mattered inside the red zone, the area inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
But the part that’s difficult to explain is how they couldn’t do it against the 32nd-ranked red zone defence in football. K.C. has a few vulnerabilities, and their ability to stop the opponent from scoring touchdowns from inside that key area of the football field is at the top of those vulnerabilities.
Against the Bills on Sunday, however, the Chiefs looked like they knew all the red zone plays Buffalo wanted to call, like they were inside the headset of highly acclaimed offensive co-ordinator and playcaller Brian Daboll.
This was a football game the Bills led 9-0 in the early going after a muffed punt led to a touchdown pass from Josh
Allen to tight end Dawson Knox. As you would expect, the Chiefs shook off that slow start and soon after led 14-9, then 21-9. Buffalo just couldn’t stop Mahomes getting the ball to a mostly wide-open Kelce, his Pro Bowl tight end.
Buffalo had the last possession of the first half and drove deep into K.C. territory before settling for a short field
goal. They generated a similar drive in the third quarter, and again produced only a field goal.
Then came the final, most painful moment. Down 31-15 and still alive if they could score a TD, the Bills again penetrated deep into Chiefs territory. From the 20-yard
line, Allen looked to his left and threw toward wideout John Brown despite the fact Brown was covered by two defenders.
The ball tipped off Brown’s hands and into the mitts of a waiting K.C. defensive back. That made it three red zone possessions resulting in only six points when the game was still within reach.
Better production on those opportunities might not have been enough to beat the Chiefs. But it would have made losing a lot more palatable.
As it was, the Chiefs registered a convincing 38-24 triumph, and in two weeks will try to become the first team since the New England Patriots in 2004 and ’05 to win consecutive Super Bowls. Those Patriots were, of course, quarterbacked by Tom Brady, and all these years later Brady will be in the unique position of being able to deny the Chiefs their second straight championship.
At 43, he led the Bucs to a 31-26 upset victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, qualifying for his 10th Super Bowl appearance. Brady did throw three interceptions on consecutive possessions to help keep the Packers within striking distance, but he still
played well enough to throw three touchdown passes and get the win.
The Packers, like the Bills, will have major regrets. Like not going for the touchdown and a chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, settling for a field instead of letting Aaron Rodgers make a big play.
Brady, meanwhile, has won six rings, all with the Patriots. With New England missing the playoffs entirely, this season has turned into a wonderful opportunity to separate his legacy from that of Pats head
coach Bill Belichick.
This matchup with the 25year-old Mahomes will be fascinating. Rarely — never? — has Brady gone into a Super Bowl as the decisive underdog, but he will this time.
For the Bills, meanwhile, this was a wonderful 15-win season, and that shouldn’t be forgotten in the disappointment of Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs. They fought to the end, even recovering an onside kick to keep things interesting before the AFC East winners lost their composure completely in the dying minutes.
In the end, 24 points is rarely going to be enough to knock out a champ, particularly a champ like the Chiefs. The Bills scored a team-record 501 points during the record season, but in the last two weeks against Baltimore and Kansas City, Allen and his offence couldn’t score touchdowns at the same rate as during the regular season. The AllenStefon Diggs combination was almost non-existent for three quarters, and the Bills’ iffy running game couldn’t find much daylight at all.
In general, the improved maturity that made Allen such a big story in the NFL this season seemed to fray against the pressure of the Chiefs. His decision making wasn’t quite as sharp, almost like the game was going a little too fast for him.
But he has established himself as one of the game’s best. That should ensure the Bills can stay competitive for years to come.
Beefing up the running game will have to be a priority for Buffalo’s front office. Perhaps a bigger, more reliable target at tight end. Defensively, well, the Bills’ D was on the field much too long on Sunday, and chasing Hill around the football field is exhausting. At one point he turned a slant pass into a 71-yard pass-and-run play.
It was no disgrace that the Bills couldn’t beat the Chiefs. But they lost a game by not being able to do what they had done very well all season.
That’s going to sting for a while.