KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was Week 11 in the regular season, and the Bills had just defeated the Chiefs, 30-21.
As is NFL custom, the two starting quarterbacks trotted across the field after the game to greet each other, and it was then when Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes embraced Buffalo’s Josh Allen and told him, “We’ll do it again.”
“We’ll see you guys later,” Allen responded as they went their separate ways en route to dominating their respective divisions.
So, here we are.
Later has arrived for Mahomes’ Chiefs and Allen‘s Bills, as they meet again in the AFC Championship at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
If the Chiefs win, it will mark the fourth time in five seasons they’ve ended the Bills’ season prematurely in the playoffs.
It, too, would put Kansas City in the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year and fifth in the past six years, and give them a chance to become the first team ever to win three consecutive championships.
This is Kansas City’s seventh consecutive conference championship game — only New England, with eight in their dynastic run, has more.
“It’s been a special run,” Mahomes said.
If the Bills win, they’ll reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1993 season — when they lost their fourth consecutive attempt at winning the Lombardi Trophy, which they’ve never won.
Allen has never defeated Mahomes in the postseason — something that has become a tremendous burden for him despite proving himself to be one of the most dynamic players in the game, but needing the hardware to truly cement his legacy.
Allen has started 12 playoff games, the most of any quarterback without reaching a Super Bowl.
The thing is, though: Allen can hardly be blamed for his pedestrian 7-5 postseason record considering he’s thrown 23 touchdowns to just four interceptions in those games.
While the Bills have won the previous four regular-season matchups with Kansas City, including the game earlier this season, they’re 0-3 against the Chiefs in the postseason.
Kansas City beat the Bills in the 2020 AFC Championship, then in 2021 divisional round and again last season in the divisional round.
“We know what they are,’’ Allen said this week. “They’re the perennial of what you want to be in the NFL. You’ve got to beat them to get past them.”
This has gotten old for Allen and the Bills. Will it change on Sunday night? Is this finally the Bills’ time?
“We’re grateful and humbled to have another opportunity at it,’’ Allen said.
The Bills enter this game looking like a more complete team than any they’ve had in the previous meetings against the Chiefs.
Allen remains great, but he has a deeper, more productive running game around him now, and a better defense.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, have had a fascinating regular season in which they’ve looked more vulnerable than ever during this dynasty, yet they continue to win.
They were 11-0 in one-score games this season.
“If you look at the games, every game’s close, so it just comes out to a play here or there that makes an impact on the outcome,’’ Mahomes said. “When you look at the great rivalries of the NFL, it comes with this. It comes with playing each other every year in the regular season, and it comes with playing in the playoffs.’’
The Bills and Chiefs have played each other a total of eight times in the past five seasons.
“I feel like we’ve played them just as much as we’ve played the guys in our division,’’ Allen said.
There are a lot of players on the Bills roster who’ve endured the end-of-the-season heartbreak from these losses to Kansas City. One of them who hasn’t is receiver Amari Cooper, who’s in his first season with Buffalo.
“I’ve never been this far in the playoffs,’’ Cooper said. “This is what you dream of. [You] get this far, it’s like you can taste it.’’
What will the Bills taste come Sunday night?
Will it finally be sweet?
Or bitter again?
