Ryan O'Halloran: The Chiefs' ugly loss leaves a door wide open for the Bills (and others) to storm through
"Sunday night showed why the Bills and the other AFC contenders should no longer be intimidated by the Chiefs," Ryan O'Halloran writes. "Go storm through that door, Josh and Lamar."
Josh Allen would have provided more resistance to the Philadelphia Eagles. He would have dodged their ferocious pass rush and extended plays to make big-time throws downfield or been an effective scrambler under pressure.
James Cook would have poked some holes in the Eagles’ defensive line with his slashing running style and helped the Buffalo Bills cross midfield and score a point before late in the third quarter.
Dion Dawkins would have made sure Josh Sweat didn’t get 2½ sacks and given Allen time to survey the field.
And the Bills’ defense would have created at least one short-field takeaway.
You know it. Everybody knows it.
Go ahead, Bills fans, play the “What if?” game after the Kansas City Chiefs – those bleeping Kansas City Chiefs – were routed by the Eagles, 40-22, in Sunday night’s Un-Super Bowl inside the Superdome.
No way, no how the Eagles would have done this to the Bills.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes stands on the sideline during the second half of Super Bowl LIX against the
Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
Talk about making the AFC championship game loss to the Chiefs two weeks ago even more painful for the Bills and their fans.
Not saying the Bills would have beaten Philadelphia. This was an elite Eagles team that finished the season with 16 wins in 17 games. But what we saw, as the crowd booed Taylor Swift and cheered Donald Trump, was a changing of the AFC guard, even though the Chiefs were the only AFC team playing.
The window is open for the Bills and Allen.
The window is open for Baltimore and Lamar Jackson.
There is no other conclusion Allen and Jackson can reach if they bothered watching.
“(Super Bowl losses) suck, there’s no way around it,” said Mahomes, who was sacked six times and committed three turnovers. “Anytime you lose the Super Bowl, it’s the worst feeling in the world and it will stick with you the rest of your career. These will be the two losses that will motivate me to be better the rest of my career, because you only get so few of these and you have to capitalize on them.”
Mahomes has now capitalized on three of his five Super Bowl trips, and both losses have been butt-kickings – the Chiefs lost 31-9 to Tampa Bay after the 2020 season, and in this one, the Eagles led 40-6 (40-6!) with 8:01 remaining.
In that loss to Tampa Bay, Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce were four years younger, and receiver Tyreek Hill was running free all over the field.
Mahomes is still in his prime, but help wasn’t on the way in the Super Bowl, and it may not be in the near future. That’s why Allen and Jackson should be fueled by Philadelphia’s win.
Mahomes and Reid will be back, but there is a reason why no team has won three consecutive Super Bowl titles or even had the chance for a three-peat. It’s tough, and the more a team wins, the more the salary cap crunches them and they lose good players.
The Chiefs’ warts were there for all to see.
“Too many turnovers and too many penalties,” Reid said. “Against a good football team, you just can’t do that.”
Kansas City’s offensive line stunk. The Eagles didn’t blitz one time but created constant chaos.
Kansas City’s skill players didn’t get open. The Chiefs tried to Band-Aid their receiver position with veterans DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster, and they showed why they were available.
Kansas City’s defense had no answers. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was 17 of 22 passing for 221 yards and three touchdowns.
And Kansas City’s coaches, in a rarity, were outwitted by Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Overall, though, it was Mahomes’ collapse that was the most startling.
Where was the poise? The improvisation? The magic? The grit? Missing, missing, missing and missing.
Mahomes’ two careless second-quarter interceptions ended his team’s hopes and helped stake Philadelphia to a 24-0 halftime lead.
“Those early turnovers turned the momentum of the game, and they capitalized on one (Cooper DeJean’s 38-yard interception touchdown) and got a touchdown immediately after (Zach Baun’s interception),” Mahomes said. “That’s 14 points I gave them.”
Mahomes had 33 first-half passing yards and more interceptions (two) than third-down conversions (zero). It was shocking to see how leaky his pass protection was and how flustered he became inside and outside the pocket.
Now that the three-peat bid is extinguished, stop with the conversation about the Chiefs joining the New England Patriots (2001-18) as an NFL dynasty. The Patriots lost, but they never lost like this.
And stop with the chatter about Mahomes challenging Tom Brady (seven Super Bowl wins) as the greatest quarterback ever. Brady never lost like this.
This is the kind of loss that leaves a permanent mark. The AFC West should be improved because of its coaching firepower – Pete Carroll (Las Vegas), Jim Harbaugh (Chargers) and Sean Payton (Denver).
The Bills have the NFL MVP at quarterback. The Ravens have a two-time NFL MVP at quarterback. And I always think Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow will contend for a Super Bowl berth if the organization ever stops failing him.
That leaves the Chiefs, despite seven consecutive AFC championship game appearances and five Super Bowls in six years, in a vulnerable state.
The Bills need to get better up front on defense to take advantage of the Chiefs’ offensive line. Fine-tune their downfield passing game. And remain committed to running the football.
Sunday night showed why the Bills and the other AFC contenders should no longer be intimidated by the Chiefs.
Go storm through that door, Josh and Lamar.
