Josh Allen certainly made his case to be the MVP of the league, orchestrating the play that pushed the Buffalo Bills past the Kansas City Chiefs from the ranks of the unbeaten. Allen’s 26-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter sealed Buffalo’s 30-21 victory over Kansas City.
On a fourth-and-2 with 2:17 left, the Bills held a 23-21 lead and decided to go for it from the Chiefs’ 26-yard line. Instead of having a 44-yard field goal attempt by Tyler Bass to go up 26-21, coach Sean McDermott but the ball in Allen’s hands and allowed him to win the game.
Allen didn’t have his first nor second read open, so he took off himself. Not only did Allen get the first down, but scored to put the Bills up 30-21 to seal the game. Allen finished with 260 yards passing and a touchdown while rushing for 55 yards and a score. The Bills never trailed in the second half, snapping Kansas City’s seven-game win streak when trailing at halftime.
Mahomes finished 23 of 33 for 196 yards and three touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. The final one was via Terrel Bernard on fourth-and-13 from the Chiefs’ 38-yard line with 1:17 left. Mahomes attempted a deep pass to Travis Kelce, but Bernard jumped in front of the throw to end it.
Buffalo improved to 9-2 on the season with its sixth straight win. The Chiefs saw their 15-game win streak (dating to last Christmas) snapped. Kansas City still controls the top seed in the AFC, but the race for home-field advantage became tighter with Buffalo and the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-2) winning on Sunday.
Takeaways from the game are below, along with a quick synopsis of the action in the live blog!
Why the Bills won
Josh Allen will certainly get a ton of credit for the plays he made to lead Buffalo to victory, but the Bills also deserve the accolades for their two fourth-quarter drives that made sure they came away with the victory. Buffalo scored on both of its fourth-quarter possessions to maintain control of the game, with both drives going for 10+ plays and 60+ yards.
Not only did Allen throw and run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but he went 9 of 11 for 80 yards with a 127.3 passer rating on the final two drives while having seven carries for 41 yards and a score. When the Bills needed Allen, he delivered.
Why the Chiefs lost
The Chiefs defense turned in an un-Chiefs like performance in Sunday’s loss, allowing 30 points and 366 yards in the loss. Kansas City allowed 28+ points in a game for the first time in 38 regular-season games, dating back to the 2022 season. On the final two drives, the Chiefs defense couldn’t get off the field as they allowed 22 plays for 131 yards (5.95 yards per play) as the Bills went 3 of 4 on third down and 1 of 1 on fourth down (Josh Allen’s touchdown).
Patrick Mahomes never got a chance to steal the game, because the defense wasn’t elite for one week.
Turning point
The Bills faced a third-and-9 at the Chiefs’ 44-yard line with 4:34 to go. Josh Allen threw a dart across the middle to Khalil Shakir for a 10-yard game to extend the drive and get to the Chiefs’ 34 with just over four minutes left. This play was vital toward the Bills killing some more clock and Mahomes not getting the ball back in a one-score game.
Allen’s touchdown run doesn’t happen without this throw earlier in the drive. This was an underrated play in an impressive day for Allen.
Play of the game
Josh Allen’s number being called on fourth-and-2 was the decision that saved Sean McDermott and the Bills coaching staff. McDermott trusted Allen to win the game for his team instead of kicking a field goal and taking a 26-21 lead — and giving Mahomes the ball back with a chance to lead the Chiefs to the winning touchdown.
Allen made the 26-yard run that was dubbed the “play of the year.” The touchdown was MVP-caliber, as Allen made the play that needed to be made — which teams haven’t done against the Chiefs this year.
The quote
“Just trying to make a play and help our team win a football game. It’s another Week 11 win. Knowing how things play out, we’ll probably see this team again at some point.” — Josh Allen to NFL on CBS’ Tracy Wolfson on his touchdown run and beating the Chiefs.
Up next
The Bills (9-2) head into their bye week with a four-game lead in the loss column in the AFC East while the Chiefs (9-1) face the Panthers (3-7) in Carolina next Sunday.
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