The only error that could be found in what was a perfect final few minutes of football for the Bills came on the kickoff that followed Allen’s fourth touchdown pass to Davis. Buffalo elected to have Tyler Bass send the kick deep into the end zone for a touchback, sparing the Chiefs precious few seconds that proved to be crucial in Kansas City’s effort to get into field goal range.
A squib kick would have forced a return, which would have likely resulted in better starting field position, but also would have taken time off the clock. Instead, Mahomes had all of 13 seconds to get the Chiefs to overtime.
“We talk about a lot of things,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said when asked about the decision to kick it deep. “I’m just going to leave it at execution and it starts with me.”
Add it to the litany of Buffalo heartbreaks. Wide Right. The Music City Miracle. And on Sunday, 13 Seconds.
“When the teams had to execute, two very good football teams executed,” Bills center Mitch Morse said after the defeat. “I feel like it was one of those things, that if, it felt like whoever had the ball last was going to win the game. We just ended up on the wrong side of maybe one of the greatest games in postseason history.
“Devastated in that locker room. Very proud of our guys. But that last two minutes of football was something special. You can’t write it in movies. It was remarkable. I was honored to be a part of it.”
This game won’t be forgotten for quite a long time, if ever. Sunday marked the first playoff game in NFL history with three go-ahead touchdowns in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. The 1958 NFL Championship Game — known as The Greatest Game Ever Played, a sudden-death finish credited for permanently vaulting football into the American sporting consciousness — doesn’t hold a candle to this conclusion.
“We’re gonna play this team a lot of times in games like this,” Mahomes said of the Bills, who have now seen their season end at the hands of the Chiefs in consecutive years. “With that quarterback, with that coaching staff and the players they have, it’s going to be a lot of battles, I’m glad we got this one. We’re trying to keep it rolling, we got a good team coming in next week but we get to be in Arrowhead for the AFC Championship.”