Chiefs have little room for error after midseason loss to Bills

AI-assisted summary
• The Buffalo Bills defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 28-21, marking their fifth consecutive regular-season win against them.
• The loss drops the Chiefs to a 5-4 record, putting them two games behind the division-leading Denver Broncos.
• The Bills’ victory keeps them in contention in the AFC East, just behind the New England Patriots.

ORCHARD PARK, NY – Round 10 is in the books.

It happened again. The Buffalo Bills topped the Kansas City Chiefs again at Highmark Stadium on Nov. 2, marking the 10th meeting between the teams since 2020 with a convincing 28-21 effort that proved, well, they can still knock off Patrick Mahomes & Co. in the regular season. That’s five in a row, by that measure.

See ya again in January? Well, maybe. Maybe not. It’s not so automatic this time that the next sequel will come in the AFC playoffs again.

If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Chiefs would be sitting at home.

Sure, that’s a strange thought. Kansas City has advanced to the AFC Championship Game in every season that Mahomes has been the starting quarterback and has won nine consecutive AFC West titles.

Yet the setback on Sunday – coupled with a Denver win at Houston – left the Chiefs (5-4) two games behind the division-leading Broncos.

Sure, it’s only midseason. There’s plenty of football left. The Chiefs have two head-to-head meetings with Denver on tap.

But there’s a whole lot less room for error. That was the prospect for whichever team lost as arguably the NFL’s most compelling rivalry resumed before the typically rabid Bills Mafia. For the first time in this heavyweight rivalry pitting Mahomes against Josh Allen, the NFL’s reigning MVP, neither team was in first place.

Unlike previous encounters, the outcome couldn’t be projected as a crucial swing factor that might determine the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.

Survival was the ticket, which fueled a playoff-like atmosphere. The Bills (6-2) survived to remain a half-game behind the revitalized New England Patriots (7-2) in the AFC East. And the margin is actually bigger than that, when considering the tiebreaker edge the Patriots claimed by winning here in Week 5.

In any event, Buffalo’s survival was effectively clinched with rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston’s interception of a deep Mahomes heave with just over four minutes to play. It doused Kansas City’s hope for a huge comeback after the Chiefs put together a 66-yard TD drive early in the fourth quarter – which include Mahomes converting on a fourth-and-17 pass that was the longest fourth-down conversion of his career – that was capped by Travis Kelce’s grab of a two-point conversion.

Yet the Bills defense, despite a manpower shortage that included the absence of star D-tackle Ed Oliver (torn biceps) and a secondary that has had tremendous challenges all season, didn’t wilt in crunch time.

Throughout the game, it kept heat on Mahomes, who entered the contest with a streak of three consecutive games with three TDs. He left the game with zero TD throws, his lowest passer rating of the season (57.2), and for the first time in his career didn’t complete 50% of his passes (15-of-34).

Still, Mahomes, who once stung the Bills in the playoffs by leading a field goal drive in 13 seconds, had a last-gasp chance at a miracle, but two final heaves to the end zone were batted down by Cole Bishop and Hairston, respectively.

Tough defense was just part of the formula. James Cook rushed for 114 yards on 27 carries – the first running back to top 100 against the Chiefs defense since Christmas 2023 – a week after shredding Carolina for 216 rushing yards.

Allen threw 26 passes and had just three incompletions, with a TD pass and 123.2 rating. He also rushed for 2 TDs. Dalton Kincaid, the mobile tight end, was the receiving tight end with 101 yards on six receptions.

And Bills coach Sean McDermott made some shrewd decisions that paid off.

See them again in January. History suggests that the Chiefs lose to Buffalo in the regular season and break the Bills hearts in January, which has happened with four consecutive playoff wins.

We’ll see. As it stands now, history guarantees nothing at the this point.

And the Bills will surely will take that.