‘It’s not fun’: Josh Allen after Bills heartbreaking loss to Chiefs
Bulls quarterback Josh Allen speaks to the media after Buffalo’s devastating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
Game seriously
KANSAS CITY, MO – What’s worse than living a nightmare?
The sequel
This is again a piece of reality Buffalo Billswho have built one of the NFL’s most consistent winners but continue to break the same hearts.
It happened again on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium. There were bills This close Still fell short, 32-29, against the same Ol’ Monsters to earn the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth in 31 years.
Forget Freddy or Jason. Bills have been tortured Kansas City Chiefsfeaturing Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. And then some.
Here’s their horror flick: For the fourth time in five years, the Bills’ season ends with the Chiefs, who are going to their third straight Super Bowl.
“To be the champs, you have to beat the champs,” Bulls quarterback Josh Allen said.
Fair enough
“And we didn’t do it,” Allen added.
Allen, who has become one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, may wonder what it would be like to ever win in the playoffs when matched up against Mahomes.
The Chiefs star is the NFL version of Michael Jordan. That makes Allen the equivalent of Karl Malone or John Stockton — NBA greats with the Utah Jazz who never won a championship because Jordan stood in the way with his Chicago Bills.
This time, the snapshots depicting the agony for the Bills will include Allen on a controversial fourth-and-a-half sneak and Mahomes filling in (somewhat) on cover for a payday when the passes weren’t enough. The lasting image, though, may be a dropped pass by tight end Dalton Kincaid on a fourth down by Allen late in the fourth quarter.
Turns out, it was Buffalo’s last offensive play, with just under two minutes to play. Had Kincaid caught the football when he dove desperately, the Bills would have moved into field goal range on first down. The football traveled about 30 yards. But he usually saw the hands of a reliable target. Allen might have let a split second fly by before he was pressured by a Trent McDuffie corner blitz and chased down by George Karlofts, who leveled Allen while releasing the football.
That’s the thing about dreams. Bad things happen.
“Just the fact that he got the ball off,” Kincaid told USA TODAY Sports. “He put the ball there and gave me a chance to make a play. And I couldn’t make a play. It’s something that hurts a lot.”
The Bills did a lot of things that could help them avoid their eighth road playoff loss. They did not trade for the fifth game in a row. They played aggressively, converting four of their six fourth-down calls in the second half. They were resilient, springing for big plays as they fought back from an 11-point deficit in the first half to take the lead in the second half.
And that was hardly enough.
Then again, even when it seemed like enough for Bills it wasn’t necessary. The fourth-down sneak by Allen caused controversy because the mass of bodies in the pileup made it difficult to see if the officials saw the ball correctly. It was crucial on fourth-and-one from the Chiefs’ 41-yard line, with Buffalo clinging to a 22-21 lead.
Bills coach Sean McDermott said his edge position gave the quarterback plenty of leverage for first downs before getting behind. However, a replay review upheld the on-field decision. Kansas City then took possession on a short field and immediately drove for the go-ahead touchdown.
Given the final outcome, this decision made the defeat all the more disappointing.
“Well, it does,” McDermott said. “It’s a possession. We’re at a point right now. A chance to go up by maybe one score at this point. It’s a big call. It’s an absolutely big call.”
The animosity — if not the horror movie elements — will continue. Buffalo has won five straight AFC East titles and has shown it can beat Kansas City in some situations. The Bills are 4-0 against the Chiefs in regular-season showcase games featuring Mahomes and Allen.
Yet the playoffs had the same old script, with the same ending.
And a single heart break.
“What’s next?” Dion Dawkins repeated the question to tackle the bills. “We go home. We kiss our families. And we get back to training.”
They also want to make sure to burn the script to line up against the Chiefs in the playoffs.
Follow Jaret Bell on X, @Jerratable
