The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are set for another Super Bowl showdown

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates after defeating the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday.

The Kansas City Chiefs punched their ticket to Super Bowl LIX with a nail-biting 32-29 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game on Sunday.

With the victory, the Chiefs continue their pursuit of history, aiming to become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

The Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles on February 9 in New Orleans, with a chance to further cement their status as the latest dynasty in professional sports.

“I’m just so proud of my teammates on how they responded,” Mahomes said on the CBS broadcast after the game. “That was a great football team. I’m just lost of words. I’m excited for New Orleans.”

The game was tightly contested from the start, with Kansas City holding a slim 21-16 lead at halftime.

With a chance to go up two scores to open up the second half, the Chiefs managed to get the ball into Bills territory, before the Buffalo defense came up with a timely stop. Linebacker Matt Milano sacked Mahomes for a 5-yard loss, knocking the Chiefs out of field goal range and forcing Kansas City to punt the ball with 10:01 remaining in the third quarter.

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook scores a touchdown in the second half.

Buffalo capitalized on the stop, leaning on running back James Cook, who rushed for 43 yards on the first three plays of the drive. The Bills converted two pivotal fourth-down attempts, including the 1-yard touchdown run by Cook, giving them a 22-21 lead after a failed two-point conversion.

The two teams traded scoreless possessions before Kansas City’s defense delivered a game-changing stop. On a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak attempt, Josh Allen was ruled short after review, giving the Chiefs the ball near midfield.

Mahomes and the offense seized the opportunity, orchestrating a five-play scoring drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by the Chiefs signal caller. A successful two-point conversion extended the Chiefs’ lead to 29-22 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson celebrates after making a catch for a two point conversion in the second half.

Mahomes completed 18 of 26 attempts in the victory, finishing with 245 passing yards and a touchdown, while adding 43 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground.

As they’ve done in years past, Buffalo did not go down without a fight. Allen connected with Cook and Mack Hollins for gains 23 and 36 yards on the ensuing drive that got the Bills into a first and goal situation at the Chiefs 4-yard line.

After being unable to convert on the first three attempts, Buffalo elected to go for it on fourth down, resulting in Allen finding a wide-open Curtis Samuel in the back of the end zone for the four-yard touchdown pass. The Bills converted the extra point attempt to tie the game 29-29 with 6:15 left in the fourth quarter.

With the game hanging in the balance, Mahomes led a methodical drive deep into Buffalo territory. While the Bills’ defense managed to hold Kansas City to a Harrison Butker 35-yard field goal, the Chiefs regained a 32-29 lead with 3:33 remaining.

Buffalo had one final chance to dethrone the reigning champions, but Kansas City’s defense came through once again. On fourth-and-five, Allen’s pass fell incomplete, handing the ball back to the Chiefs with two minutes left.

Kansas City’s offense sealed the victory with two crucial first downs, running out the clock and clinching their spot in the Super Bowl.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce celebrate after defeating the Buffalo Bills.

The Chiefs improved to a perfect 4-0 against Buffalo in playoff matchups during the Mahomes era, while the Bills’ postseason woes against their AFC nemesis continued. Despite winning four straight regular season matchups against Kansas City, Buffalo has now been eliminated by the Chiefs in four of the last five postseasons, including the 2020 AFC Championship, and the 2021 and 2023 AFC divisional round entering Sunday’s game.

“It’s not about one guy. It’s not about a couple guys. It’s about the whole entire team,” Mahomes said. “And when we needed a defensive stop, they got stops. Offense we made plays. That’s why we’re so special. It’s a team effort and it’s a team football game.”

Kansas City are the first reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions to return to the Big Game for a chance to win three straight championships.

What will be focused on in Buffalo for the next several months is simple: Did Dalton Kincaid or Josh Allen actually pick up that first down early in the fourth quarter?

With the Bills leading 22-21 and about 13 minutes to go in the game, Allen connected with Kincaid on third down. The tight end got very close to the first down marker – and might have actually gone past it. As he fell forward, Kincaid appeared to land right on the 40-yard line, which was the line to gain, thanks to landing on a Chiefs’ player as he went down.

The referees ruled him short and Allen hustled his team to the line, attempting Buffalo’s version of the “tush push” to get the first down. The linesman and the line judge come in from opposite sides of the field – and apparently with opposite views of what happened.

The linesman’s spot appears to indicate that Allen picked up the first down. The line judge’s spot gives the ball to the Chiefs. Ultimately, after a replay review, the referee ruled in favor of the line judge’s spot.

It was a crucial call. Instead of giving the Bills the opportunity to add to their slim lead, the Chiefs got the ball back and went down the field to score a go-ahead touchdown that helped build the lead that put them in the Super Bowl.

It’s already the subject of intense debate on social media and no doubt the conversation will not end for months in the barrooms of Buffalo and upstate New York.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is seen during the second half.

As confetti rained down on top of Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid, he was asked by CBS’ Jim Nantz about what the difference was between Kansas City and Buffalo on Sunday.

As for taking on the Eagles in two weeks time, Reid didn’t make it personal.

Reid was Philadelphia’s head coach for 14 seasons before joining the Chiefs. He already defeated his former team in the Super Bowl two years ago in one of the most dramatic editions of the game ever.

After the victory over the Bills, Kansas City’s quarterback was elated for another chance at a Super Bowl title.

Mahomes was quick to give credit to others after a team win.

Taylor Swift kisses Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after the game.

Taylor Swift, arm-in-arm with Travis Kelce’s mom Donna, celebrated on the field Sunday after the Super Bowl-bound Chiefs’ big win.

The singer and Donna Kelce hung out on the field during the trophy ceremony, cheering for and laughing at Kelce when he playfully sang “Get Down Tonight” by KC and the Sunshine Band, as seen on CBS’s broadcast.

The pair were also briefly shown celebrating together after the trophy ceremony on the field. Kelce and Swift walked off the field together, smiling big with their arms around each other, after the on-field festivities.

Swift was seen watching the game from a suite with Donna Kelce, her mom, Andrea, and her friend Ashley Avignone. During the first half, she excitedly gave Kelce’s mom and her own mom a group hug after KC scored and took the lead during what turned out to be a nail-biter game.

Sunday’s game marked the second time Swift experienced Kelce and the Chiefs winning an AFC Championship. She was on hand at last year’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens, which sent the Chiefs to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year.

The couple famously celebrated together on the field when the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates after throwing a pass for a first down.

After picking up that key first down, the Bills only have two timeouts left with 1:45 to go in the game.

Mahomes hands off to Isaiah Pacheco on first down, picking up one yard and forcing the Bills to take their second timeout.

Kareem Hunt gets the same call on second down, getting no gain and the Bills spend their last time out. To have any chance in this game, the Bills have to stop the Chiefs here on third-and-nine at the Buffalo 35-yard line to force a punt.

But Patrick Mahomes is built for these moments. He finds Samaje Perine for a short pass on the left that gets more than enough for a first down, into the Bills red zone, and that will send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl!

There’s 1:12 remaining and the Bills cannot stop the clock. More pain in Buffalo at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

And it’s all over after two kneel downs. The Kansas City Chiefs are AFC champions for the third straight year.

Final score: Bills 29, Chiefs 32

A three-peat is within reach for the Chiefs after a 10-yard gain from Isaiah Pacheco to secure a first down.

With just over a minute left in the game, Kansas City can taste it.

And just like that, another first down which should just about do it.

Patrick Mahomes found Samaje Perine for a 17-yard gain as Chiefs players begin celebrating. The team will head to New Orleans to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.

Score: Bills 29, Chiefs 32

And here it is.

The Bills line up to go for it on fourth-and-five with Allen in the shotgun and four receivers out to his left. The Chiefs pass rush gets home and Allen heaves it up – and it falls incomplete!

The Bills still have all three timeouts, but it’s looking like the Chiefs are on the path to their third straight Super Bowl appearance!

Score: Bills 29, Chiefs 32

It’s what Josh Allen has to have thought about ever since the Chiefs ended his 2023-24 season a year ago.

The Buffalo Bills quarterback has the ball with 3:33 to go and the chance to beat the Kansas City Chiefs and send his team to the Super Bowl.

The Bills start the drive at their own 30-yard line and immediately lose a yard on a Ty Johnson run. Allen takes matters into his own hands on second down and scrambles for 13 yards for a first down.

After two incompletions from the Buffalo 42-yard line, it’s third-and-10 with 2:21 left in the game. Allen’s short pass to Amari Cooper only picks up five and it’s suddenly the biggest play of the game – right on the other side of the two minute warning.

Score: Bills 29, Chiefs 32

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker watches his 35-yard field goal as Buffalo Bills' Cam Lewis defends.

We are looking at an exciting end to an exciting game.

The Bills defense held the Chiefs in check, forcing them short of the end zone.

Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker nailed a 35-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a slight three point lead.

The Bills get the ball back with just over three minutes to play.

Score: Bills 29, Chiefs 32

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Curtis Samuel catches a touchdown pass.

The Bills are looking for an answer and it seems like they might have one.

After that disappointing failed fourth-down conversion – and the questions about the spot on that one will linger in Buffalo all summer long if they don’t win this game – the Bills are charging right back down the field to try and even this bout.

Josh Allen starts the drive with two short passes to James Cook, the second of which breaks for a big gain of 23 yards into Kansas City territory. A short run and a short pass sets up third-and-seven and Allen sends his answer to Patrick Mahomes’ heroics on the last drive with some of his own.

The Buffalo quarterback hits Mack Hollins in stride for a 32-yard gain, putting the Bills at first-and-goal at the Kansas City four-yard line.

Allen is stuffed on a first down run for no gain and then tosses an incompletion on second down, setting up a big third-and-goal. The Chiefs want to talk it over and take their first timeout of the second half with 6:23 to go in the game.

When play resumes, Allen tries to find wide receiver Keon Coleman but instead almost throws an interception in the end zone to the Chiefs’ Trent McDuffie. The stop sets up yet another big fourth down play for the Bills – but this one goes in Buffalo’s favor.

Allen finds wide receiver Curtis Samuel wide open in the back of the end zone for a touchdown and, with 6:15 to go, the Bills are an extra point away from tying this one up!

Tyler Bass nails it and we are all tied up!

Score: Bills 29, Chiefs 29

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates his touchdown.

After a huge defensive stop on fourth down, the Chiefs offense marched down the field and found the end zone rather quickly.

Set up by a 29-yard reception by JuJu Smith-Schuster, it was up to Patrick Mahomes to get the score.

The star quarterback took it himself for a 10-yard score and then found Justin Watson for a successful two-point conversion to make it a seven point game.

Mahomes now has seven career postseason rushing touchdowns, setting a Chiefs franchise record for most playoff scores.

Score: Bills 22, Chiefs 29

The ruling by the referees is … first down Kansas City!

What a huge stop for the defense!

Score: Bills 22, Chiefs 21

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen dives for a first down in the fourth quarter.

The Bills keep their offense on the field, opting to go for it on fourth-and-inches.

They line up in position for a quarterback sneak and Allen dives over the top of the pile to get the necessary yardage. Allen appears to fumble the ball as he goes to the ground, but he recovers it himself and it’s first down Buffalo.

At the 50-yard line, the Bills go back to James Cook and they pick up two yards. Allen tosses a rare pass to Khalil Shakir on second down, picking up another five yards. On third-and-three, the Bills pick up only two yards and the Bills face yet another big decision whether to go for it on fourth down.

Allen tries again to try the tush push and it’s not clear if he got it! The Bills are signaling first down, the Chiefs are saying it’s their ball and the refs say … it’s time for a review.

With their defense starting to play lockdown in this second half, the Bills are suddenly in position to take control of this game as the third quarter comes to an end.

The Bills’ defense forced two punts from the Chiefs, sandwiched around an impressive 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive by the team’s offense to take the lead.

With Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense suddenly stifled, the Bills have an opportunity to extend the score.

They start off the drive how they spent much of their last drive – handing the ball off to running back James Cook. He picks up four and a penalty on the Chiefs adds on another five, giving the Bills a first down.

Cook takes the ball on the next play and goes to the right for nine yards, moving the ball close to midfield already. A near disaster on second down as running back Ray Davis takes the handoff and then fumbles, but he falls on it to prevent the turnover. Allen tries a quarterback keeper on third-and-short, but he’s stopped short of the first down marker.

The Bills have fourth-and-inches and need to make a decision about whether they want to go for it.

An exciting final quarter awaits as this game is up for grabs with just 15 minutes left.

Score: Bills 22, Chiefs 21

The Bills defensive unit has hit their stride.

Buffalo completely shut down Patrick Mahomes and the KC offense again, forcing the Chiefs to punt it right back to the Bills.

Score: Bills 22, Chiefs 21

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook runs with the ball as Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid in the second half.

The Bills get started on their own 20-yard line and are trying to get back to their running attack, with James Cook taking the first handoff and going up the middle for five yards.

On second down, Cook breaks loose around the left end and breaks a tackle – he goes for 33 yards to get all the way into Kansas City territory. They go right back to him on the next play and he gets another five yards.

Cook gets a breather and Ty Johnson comes in, going around the right end for two yards. On third-and-three, Allen keeps it going to the left side of the defensive line and he’s stopped a yard short of the first down.

With the two-point conversion on Buffalo’s last touchdown drive failing, a field goal doesn’t get the Bills much so they decide to go for it – and Allen takes another keeper, this time to the right, and picks up the yardage needed for a first down.

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook scores a touchdown.

The Bills go right back to that running game as Allen tosses the ball to Johnson for an 8-yard gain. Allen then breaks a big run, going for 13 yards down to the Kansas City 9-yard line and the Bills look to be in business.

On the ninth play of the drive, the Bills finally throw a pass and Allen connects with Dawson Knox for a 7-yard gain. The Bills go back to the run on second-and-goal and get halfway there with James Cook picking up one yard. They go back to Allen and he’s denied at the one!

It’s fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, the clock ticking under three minutes to play in the third quarter. Allen in the shotgun formation runs an option – he goes right and pitches to Cook, who is hit before the goal line but he reaches out as long as he possibly can and the ball gets over the goal line for a touchdown! Buffalo takes the lead!

The Bills try to go for two to make it a field goal lead and Allen is sacked on the attempt, with the Bills jumping on the loose ball after Allen is stripped.

That’s a championship quality drive there from Buffalo – 12 plays, 80 yards, taking seven minutes off the clock – and they’ve got the lead with 2:56 to go in the third.

Score: Bills 22, Chiefs 21

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is sacked by Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano in the third quarter.

Kansas City’s first offensive drive of the second half looked promising, until it didn’t.

The Bills’ defense unit appeared to have a slow start coming out of the locker room but turned it on after the Chiefs moved into their territory.

Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano sacked Patrick Mahomes for a loss of five yards which resulted in the Chiefs having to punt it back to the Bills.

Buffalo has a chance to take the lead on this offensive possession.

Score: Bills 16, Chiefs 21

The Bills kickoff to the Chiefs and we are back underway. Just 30 minutes separate these teams from the Super Bowl.

Score: Bills 16, Chiefs 21

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy leaps into the end zone for a touchdown in the first half.

The Kansas City Chiefs scored two touchdowns late in the second quarter to take a 21-16 halftime lead over the Buffalo Bills.

Josh Allen and the Bills offense were the first to take the field, with the quarterback nearly throwing two interceptions before going three-and-out on the opening drive.

Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs took advantage of the Bills shaky start, orchestrating a nine-play, 90-yard drive, culminating in a Kareem Hunt 12-yard touchdown run for the 7-0 lead with 8:56 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bills responded on the ensuing drive, overcoming an illegal formation penalty on the first play of the drive after Allen connected with tight end Dalton Kincaid for an 11-yard completion.

A couple medium-yardage gains on pass completions to Khalil Shakir and Amari Cooper for nine yards advanced the Bills into Chiefs territory.

However, the drive stalled on the next set of downs after Allen fumbled, mitigating the miscue for a loss of five yards. A short completion of four yards to Shakir set up a 53-yard field goal attempt for Bills kicker Tyler Bass, who converted to get Buffalo on the board.

Holding a 7-3 lead, the Kansas City offense seemed poised to extend their lead until Mahomes fumbled the ball near the Bills’ red zone and Buffalo recovered.

The Bills took advantage of the Chiefs turnover, marching down the field on a masterful 10-play, 72-yard drive, culminating in a Jared Cook 6-yard touchdown run to give the Bills a 10-7 lead with 10:25 to go in the second quarter.

Trailing for the first time in the game, the reigning back-to-back champions scored 14 unanswered points to take a double-digit point lead late in the second quarter.

The first came on an 11-play, 70-yard drive featuring a good mix of run and pass plays, including a huge fourth down conversion from Mahomes early in the drive. The three-time Super Bowl champion finished off the drive, connecting with rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy for an 11-yard touchdown to retake the lead at 14-10.

Following a three-and-out from the Bills offense, the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes conjured up some magic, to keep the Kansas City drive alive. Facing third and five, on what looked like a surefire sack, Mahomes heaved the ball down the field and found Xavier Worthy for a 26-yard reception.

However, the Bills would challenge the play after it appeared a Buffalo defender intercepted the ball. The challenge was unsuccessful and set the Chiefs up nicely with good field position.

Mahomes would then scramble it in for the one-yard touchdown.

Buffalo scored a late touchdown, when Allen connected with Mack Hollins for 34-yards with 23 seconds left in the second quarter to cut the Bills deficit to 21-16 after failing to score on the two-point attempt. The touchdown finished off a quick seven play, 73-yard drive that took 1:32 minutes off the game clock.

Kansas City will get the ball first to start the second half.