The January song remained the same for quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, as Buffalo once again entered the playoffs with Super Bowl expectations only to suffer a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Following the 32-29 defeat at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, Allen spoke openly about his feelings of disappointment.
“It’s not fun,” Allen said about the loss, as shared by Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN. “But to be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs, and we didn’t do it tonight. …You can either get it done or you can’t. And we didn’t get it done.”
One couldn’t blame Allen, who may earn MVP honors for the first time in his career next month, for feeling frustrated about falling to the Chiefs in yet another must-win game. Mike Gavin of NBC Connecticut noted that Allen is 4-1 versus fellow signal-caller Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in regular-season play but has now gone 0-4 against Mahomes and Co. in the playoffs since January 2021.
“We don’t accomplish s—. We don’t win a ring,” Buffalo cornerback Rasul Douglas said after the defeat. “…Everybody got one goal, bro. Only one team handles the goal at the end of every year. All other 31 is just trying to get to that goal.”
Similar to how some wonder if Lamar Jackson will ever guide the Baltimore Ravens past an in-his-prime Mahomes during a postseason, questions about Allen’s ability to win the biggest games on the biggest stages could generate Buffalo-related sports headlines for months. While the Bills were on the wrong side of a controversial fourth-down ruling early in the contest’s fourth quarter, Allen had a chance to produce a legacy drive with the visitors trailing by three points and 3:33 left in regulation.
However, Buffalo tight end Dalton Kincaid was unable to secure a fourth-down prayer of a pass with under two minutes remaining. Had Kincaid completed the catch, the Bills would’ve been in field goal range with plenty of time to search for what could’ve become a game-winning touchdown.
“If you get this close, you definitely going to try to win it all,” Bills safety Damar Hamlin added. “Just thinking about having to prepare for next season, it’s just thinking about everything that it took to get to this point feels like a heavy load to lift. So, you want to try to maximize while you’re here.”
As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Bills tied for second among the betting favorites at +650 odds to win Super Bowl LX in February 2026. It seems likely that Mahomes and the Chiefs will once again stand between Buffalo and a Super Bowl berth next winter.