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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs had been understated in their push for history, acknowledging their chance to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive titles in the Super Bowl era but saying little else.
That all changed in the moments following the Chiefs’ 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, a win that sends them to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans against the Philadelphia Eagles.
From the hastily constructed stage on the Arrowhead Stadium playing field, with confetti falling, Patrick Mahomes spoke for not only himself but his teammates when he said, “I’m excited to get to New Orleans and try to make history.”
The Chiefs are the ninth NFL team to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships but the first to return for a third consecutive season.
“It’s an amazing achievement,” Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. “It’s hard to even put into words what it means to have the opportunity that we will here in two weeks in New Orleans. So special.”
Asked why the first eight teams to try for a three-peat failed, Hunt said, “I think it’s because those teams didn’t have the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.”
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The Chiefs had to dig deep to make this Super Bowl appearance. The Chiefs and Bills traded the lead four times, with Kansas City not taking the lead for good until Harrison Butker kicked a 35-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining to break a tie and give the Chiefs the winning points.
The Chiefs then had to hold off the Bills by forcing Josh Allen to throw an incomplete pass on fourth down near midfield with two minutes remaining.
“I’m always nervous whenever the football’s not in my hand, but I have so much trust in that defense,” Mahomes said. “They’ve done it all year, and I know that’s a great offense that they’re going up against and Josh has made a lot of great plays all night, all season long, but I trust that [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] is going to call the right blitz or call the right coverage and the guys are going to execute the assignment and then whatever happens, happens. I was very happy that it was incomplete and we were able to run the time out after that.”
The Chiefs went 15-2 in the regular season and were the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, but it was similarly a tough go. Eleven of their 15 wins were by one score.
Counting the narrow margin of the AFC Championship Game and dating back to the 2023 season, the Chiefs have won an NFL-record 17 straight games decided by one score.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones said that’s why the Chiefs felt so comfortable in the fourth quarter of a tight game against the Bills.
“All year we work through situations throughout the year, practice late-game situations, two-minute situations,” Jones said. “So for us, it’s just another play. We’re very confident and … we’re used to being in these types of situations, so we feel very calm, we feel very at peace with what we’re running, the speed of it, the pace of it and the play quality.”
The win was the 17th of Mahomes’ playoff career, breaking a tie with Joe Montana and putting him in second place among quarterbacks. The leader, Tom Brady, has 35.
“It’s obviously really cool,” Mahomes said. “Your goal is to win in the postseason, but I’ve been blessed to be on a lot of great football teams with a lot of great coaches and a great organization and I just try to maximize every moment. You never know what’s going to be your last one.
“I know I’m a long way from Tom, so I’ll try to do whatever I can for that.”
