The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs penned their title into Tremendous Bowl LVIIII with a slender 32-29 victory over the Buffalo Payments. The victory permits them to win three consecutive Vince Lombardi trophies. A feat not achieved within the Superbowl period, instated in 1966.
The dynamic and unstoppable duo of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes has basically dominated the AFC and the whole NFL because the latter was drafted in 2018. Astonishingly, embodying that interval of superiority, on February 9, Kansas Metropolis will play in its fifth massive recreation within the final six seasons.
The one season they missed the Superbowl, they misplaced to a rampant Cincinnati Bengals within the AFC title recreation in 2022. So, their worst season was dropping within the recreation one earlier than the most important of all of them. They’ve since received 9 straight postseason matchups, culminating in edging out Buffalo once more final Sunday.
The Payments-Chiefs matchup has produced a number of the most compelling outcomes in latest AFC historical past. However, inevitably, Mahomes and Co got here out on prime as soon as once more. MVP favorite Josh Allen has endured 4 playoff losses to Kansas Metropolis since 2018, together with three Championship video games and one Divisional. Allen is, in truth, 4-1 towards Mahomes within the common season, however the now-updated 0-4 file towards the identical man in January tells the entire story.
Effectively, perhaps not all of it.
That is maybe the closest Buffalo has come to overcoming the Chiefs’ brute dominance. With three and a half minutes left to play, they’d Mahomes and the offence sitting on the bench. The sport was of their palms. However, as now we have seen repeatedly, the relentlessly profitable energy of Kansas Metropolis’s defence struck once more. On 4th and 5, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo despatched an all-out blitz.
It was a gutsy name on the play that will doubtlessly resolve the sport. Allen was flustered and needed to scramble to his proper instantly and heave a hopeful lofted move towards Dalton Kincaid. The tight finish bought his palms on the ball however couldn’t carry it in, handing possession again to Kansas Metropolis.
And when you give them an opportunity to shut the sport out, they received’t move up on it. The title recreation was put to mattress on a third and 9 by which third-string operating again Samaje Perine darted for a primary down to finish any hope of a last-minute Payments fightback. Genius playcalling on each side of the ball when the sport mattered most. It’s so easy, but so efficient. Kansas Metropolis reigns supreme.
The Chiefs misplaced simply two video games within the common season, one being the final recreation towards the Broncos, the place most starters have been rested. The flexibility for Kansas to relaxation all of their key gamers for an additional week, having already locked up the one seed, meant they have been the healthiest and most rested group hoping into the playoffs. Seeing the Lions’ defence battle with their accidents highlights the significance of well being and relaxation this late within the season.
The one different loss the Chiefs incurred in 2024 was towards Buffalo again in week 11, which steered a lot of the discourse going into the AFC Championship recreation. Buffalo appeared the right outfit to dethrone the Chiefs this season. That they had already overwhelmed them within the common season, which heightened the assumption. Josh Allen had an MVP-worthy marketing campaign with 40 complete touchdowns for the fifth yr in a row (28 passing, 12 dashing). And the Chiefs tended to carry out worse towards the Payments, even in situations the place they received. Six of KC’s worst 20 video games by defensive EPA since 2021 have been towards the Payments (together with the playoffs).
Unsurprisingly, as they usually do, Mahomes and his cohort clicked into gear once they wanted to most, scoring 30 factors for the primary time this season and profitable their seventeenth consecutive one-score recreation. A mind-boggling stat that spotlights Andy Reid’s inherent and constant capacity to win soccer video games.
Chiefs video games normally emphasize possessing the ball. No video games have fewer mixed possessions than Kansas affairs. Sunday’s AFC title ga,e had simply 19 drives. The importance of lengthy drives and elevated time of possession are important for the Chiefs’ success. This explains Buffalo’s inclination to be aggressive on fourth down most frequently. You must make your possessions rely and get factors on the board. In any other case, you’ll be punished. But, with a 6.3 common profitable level margin for Reid’s males since 2019 within the common season, they at all times appear to discover a method.
This, coupled with Arrowhead’s fortress repute, the place the Chiefs received all ten of their house video games there this season, makes them basically an unstoppable drive. However a drive that the Eagles should overcome if they’re to spoil the three-peat festivities in New Orleans subsequent Sunday.
A win for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in Superbowl 59 would transfer the franchise right into a tie for second concerning essentially the most victories ever within the massive recreation with 5, behind solely New England and Pittsburgh, who’ve six apiece, to not point out the aforementioned three Superbowl’s in a row which has by no means been seen earlier than.
The overall NFL consensus is that this SB matchup is undesirable and drab, contemplating the entertaining nature of different groups. However take nothing away from each the Eagles and the Chiefs, they’d the home-field benefit, they usually took full benefit, and undoubtedly should be the champions of their respective conferences.
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