five from their own 40, Sean McDermott tried a fake punt with Damar Hamlin that failed. After Isiah Pacheco rushed for 29 yards on the next play, Mecole Hardman fumbled a short completion that should have been a touchdown through the end zone. Yet Buffalo failed to capitalize. The Bills offense which had fizzled in the second had a chance to redeem itself and punch a ticket to Baltimore with its final drive. But the short pass game and somewhat predictable runs by Allen were only enough to set up Bass for the miss that made the whole NFL gasp.
Had Bass made it, Mahomes would have been left a little under two minutes to rescue his team. We’ve seen enough of Mahomes to know that was more than possible. After the game, he talked about all the skepticism of the Chiefs’ ability to show up as a road team in the playoffs. “We were going to prove a point and show we can play anywhere,” he said.
Kansas City heads back to their happy place, the AFC championship, where the Ravens defense will present a monumental roadblock. But Mahomes, who many of us had almost forgotten about this season, only gets better in the postseason. And his defense on Sunday looked as good as it did at its impressive peak in the regular season.
The Bills too head back to a familiar place after losing another nail-biter to the Chiefs: the offseason. This time the what ifs will be harder to swallow.
