ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- As the seconds ticked away, and Bills Mafia chanted for its MVP, Patrick Mahomes whispered something to Josh Allen that everyone in the stadium knew, too.
It’s as good a promise for the AFC playoffs -- or maybe a threat, depending on your rooting interests -- but the idea that the Bills and Chiefs will play again in January was the undeniable backdrop to the Bills’ 30-21 victory Sunday evening.
It explained some of the Bills’ reaction, and even the way they approached this game last week, which hovered somewhere between weariness and pragmatism.
The Bills have now won four regular-season games against the Chiefs in a row. It’s a remarkable achievement by any measure, considering that Mahomes has existed for all of them and the Chiefs also own three Super Bowl rings. But the Bills are fixated on what has come after those regular-season victories, the three consecutive playoff losses to the Chiefs. Those losses have tainted Allen’s spectacular career -- his fourth-down touchdown run that sealed Sunday’s victory the latest chapter of it -- and leavened the aftermath of the Bills’ victory.
“It means we got to nine wins,” said Allen, his expression almost completely flat. “I know from the perception outside, it’s a really big game and what it means for both fan bases and the league. We’re in Week 11, we’re 9-2. Last time I checked, nine wins doesn’t get you in the playoffs.
“Given our history, we tend to meet in the playoffs. We’re not there yet. We’ll focus on that when we get there.”
Sunday’s performance -- as complete and balanced as the Bills have had all season -- says plenty of good things about the Bills in what was supposed to be a bridge season after an offseason that saw a remaking of the wide receiver room and a purge of several veterans. On Sunday, Allen spread the ball around among his receivers, James Cook ran for two touchdowns, the defense held Mahomes under 200 yards passing and bottled up Travis Kelce. Because of injuries and their offseason makeover, the Bills are playing a number of younger players who do not have much experience in games of this heft. All of the awareness and wisdom they are accumulating now, in a close game like this, will serve the Bills well in January.
In previous seasons, that might have been enough for talk of statements made. But whatever the Bills have done to the Chiefs in regular seasons past, the Chiefs have proven they can win on the road, in a hostile environment, against a team that had already defeated them. They have already proven they can look vulnerable on offense in the regular season, as they have this season, only to piece it together in the postseason, as they did last season. Which is why, despite the completeness of this victory and the lightning bolt of Allen’s 26-yard touchdown scramble to seal it, there was no talk of putting anyone on notice.
“No statements,” head coach Sean McDermott said Sunday.
The Chiefs may have essentially thrown a wet blanket on excitement, but it feels ridiculous to think that Sunday was entirely meaningless. The Bills pulled close enough to the Chiefs that home-field advantage in the playoffs is now within reach, if nothing else. But last season laid bare a depressing reality for the AFC. The Chiefs can win at Arrowhead or on the road, with an unstoppable offense or a smothering defense. Even a team good enough to dominate them in the regular season, as the Bills have done, may be left watching the Super Bowl from home.
The past is not prologue in the NFL, though. The Bengals knocked the Chiefs out one year. The Bucs beat them in the Super Bowl. In a season that began with minimal immediate expectation, maybe this is finally the Bills' time. And maybe their reaction on Sunday is not weariness or even pragmatism, but just maturity.
McDermott said he had mapped out during last week the late-game fourth-down scenario. He felt strongly, no matter the result, that it was the right thing to do to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 26-yard line with 2:27 remaining. McDermott, as much as anyone, had watched Mahomes and Andy Reid get the ball back late in the game and drive for a winning score, or force overtime, and for their opponent to never get the ball back. It is not just young players who learn from games like this -- coaches do, too.
“They’re just way too good to not go for it there,” McDermott said.
Before the game, McDermott attempted to diffuse some of the pressure on his defense by telling them it was just another game and that in 100 years nobody will remember this. Von Miller, the veteran pass rusher who was brought here especially for games like this against Mahomes, saw it differently. He, with two Super Bowl rings, may have struck the balance that will buoy the Bills into January and perhaps beyond.
“[Expletive] that, this is a big game,” he said.
“It’s a statement win. They were undefeated. It’s not our Super Bowl. But we have to celebrate wins like this. It’s so hard to win in this league. This is a good win. We’re going to celebrate this one. We’ve got a bye week. We may celebrate this for two days, instead of one.
“We get so caught up in what’s next or what about the past. You’ve got to be where your feet are. We won today. We’re going to debrief this one, celebrate this one, and if we can continue to take steps -- there is still room for us to grow -- when January comes, that will be our Super Bowl. Those are going to be the statement games for us.”