Buffalo Bills 29-32 Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes beats Josh Allen again as Chiefs reach Super Bowl for third year in a row

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs moved within one win of NFL history as they beat Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills 32-29 in the AFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl LIX on Sunday.

No team has ever won three straight Super Bowls, with the Saquon Barkley-inspired Philadelphia Eagles now awaiting as their final obstacle in a rematch of Super Bowl 57 after beating the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game earlier in the day.

Trailing 32-29 with two minutes left, the Bills elected to go for it on fourth-and-five from their own 47 only for Allen to be swarmed by a trademark Steve Spagnuolo blitz with the game on the line. Buffalo’s back-peddling quarterback managed to heave a hopeful pass downfield, where tight end Dalton Kincaid was unable to make the catch while diving back towards the ball.

It had become another blockbuster instalment of the NFL’s great Tom Brady and Peyton Manning-esque modern quarterback rivalry as Mahomes and Allen went stride for stride yet again. Mahomes’ rushing touchdown handed Kansas City a 29-22 advantage in the fourth quarter, to which Allen replied with a fourth-down strike to Curtis Samuel to leave the pair tied at 29-29 until Harrison Butker kicked what would prove the winning points with three minutes to play.

The Chiefs have now won 17 consecutive one-score games – an NFL record – having also gone 12-0 in one-score games this season. Mahomes meanwhile improves to 4-0 against Allen in the postseason as he leads the Chiefs to a fifth Super Bowl in the last six seasons.

There had been ominous signs in the opening exchanges as a nervy Allen swerved two near-interceptions in a swift three-and-out to start, before the Chiefs offense emerged looking as slick and as dangerous as it had done perhaps all season long.

Their fast start culminated in Kareem Hunt’s 12-yard touchdown run at the end of a nine-play 90-yard drive that had seen Mahomes connect with JuJu Smith-Schuster on a 31-yard catch-and-run over the middle of the field.