The AFC Championship game featured the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. This game has young quarterbacks with Patrick Mahomes at 25 years old and Josh Allen at 24 years old. The Chiefs were expected to make it to the Conference Championship, however the Bills have been one of the best underdogs teams the league this season.
Allen has done a fantastic job all season to bring his team to the Conference Championship for the first time since 1993. He was hoping to pull off an upset and knock out the number one seeded Kansas City Chiefs to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl.
The Bills were the first to get on the board with kicker Tyler Bass’ long 51-yard kick. After that, Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman was set to receive a punt from the Bills, however it was fumbled and recovered by running back Taiwan Jones to put the Bills right at the Chiefs three-yard line. Allen made a simple three-yard pass to tight end Dawson Knox for a touchdown to give them a 9-0 lead at the end of the first quarter after Bass missed the extra point kick.
Hardman was able to recover from his mistake with a three-yard touchdown catch to give the Chiefs their first points of the game. Shortly after, running back Darrel Williams made a six-yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs their first lead of the game. They were not done here as running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire returned from injury to make a one-yard touchdown run to put the Chiefs up 21-9.
Mahomes looked as good as ever even after being in concussion protocol for five days. He finished the game with 29 completions, 325 passing yards and three touchdown passes. Late in the third quarter Tyreek Hill made a long 71-yard run to set up Mahomes, who made a fabulous underhand pass to Kelce to extend their lead 31-15.
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The Chiefs did not stop here as they continued to add on with Kelce’s five-yard touchdown catch. Kelce now has 13 playoff touchdown catches which is tied for the most ever for a tight end in NFL playoff history.
The Bills finally get their first touchdown of the game with a six-yard pass to wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie, however they failed to convert the two-point conversion and remain 17 points down from the Chiefs. Their efforts were not enough as the Chiefs took the victory 38-24 and make it to the Super Bowl for the second straight year in a row.
The Chiefs were presented with the Lamar Hunt trophy after the game and Reid spoke to the fans after the game about how proud he is of his team and he is ready to head to Tampa and win their second straight Vince Lombardi trophy.
Super Bowl bound on #ShowtimeCam! 🏆@Chiefs #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/9afrtryoMg
— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2021
“I’m proud of these guys behind me here. They did a phenomenal job. Our hats go off to the Buffalo Bills and the great job in which they did all year and most of all, we got the Lamar Hunt trophy back in Kansas City and now we gotta go get the big one. We need everyone’s support so we can bring home the gold,” said Andy Reid at Arrowhead Stadium after the game.
Mahomes also humbly spoke to the fans after the game about how the team took the victory today. “It was just trusting each other. The best thing about this team is we believe in each other and every single time we hit field we leave everything we have, but the jobs not finished. We are going to Tampa and we are trying to run it back,” said Mahomes.
He was also asked how his team will prepare to head to Tampa to face the Buccaneers, who not only have homefield advantage, but have a six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback on their team.
“We just gotta be ourselves. I trust my guys over anybody. And we are going to go out there and be ourselves and be who we are.”
This will be the first Super Bowl ever that a team will have homefield advantage, and it will be Tom Brady who will now play in his tenth Super Bowl. The game will be broadcasted on CBS on Feb 7. at Raymond James Stadium at 6:30 EST.