The Chiefs entered the game slightly favored to win,[3] due to being the AFC's top seed and having home field advantage at Arrowhead Stadium.
[7][8] Since the emergence of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen as the leading quarterbacks for their respective teams, the Chiefs and Bills have developed one of the NFL's most intense and storied rivalries.
Winning this game also gave the Chiefs the chance to secure a third consecutive Super Bowl victory, a feat never accomplished in NFL history.
The Bills have shown significant growth, with Josh Allen's development into an elite quarterback paralleling the team's rise.
The most recent playoff meeting before this contest came in the 2023 AFC Divisional Game, which the Chiefs won 27–24 in Buffalo en route to winning Super Bowl LVIII after Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a potential game-tying field goal wide right in the final two minutes of regulation, the last conference championship meeting was the 2020 AFC Championship game in which the Chiefs won 38–24.
On the next possession, Bills' kicker Tyler Bass connected on a 55-yard field goal, the longest postseason kick in the history of Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs responded with an eleven-play drive on a Mahomes touchdown pass to rookie Xavier Worthy, taking the lead, 14–10.
The Bills tried to cut the lead to three points by attempting a two-point conversion, but receiver Curtis Samuel was stopped short of the goal line.
The Bills accepted the penalty, and their second two-point conversion attempt of the game, a QB sneak by Allen, was unsuccessful.
The Bills got the ball back, and needed to either kick a field goal to tie the game or score a touchdown to take the lead in order to avoid a fourth consecutive playoff loss to the Chiefs.
After the scramble, first and second down resulted in incompletions before Allen connected with Amari Cooper for five yards on 3rd-and-10, setting up a do-or-die 4th-and-5 for the Bills.
On the play, Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo chose to heavily blitz Allen, causing him to heave the ball to Dalton Kincaid.
Buffalo then used a timeout after each play the Chiefs ran in an effort to get the ball back, but Kansas City was able to get a first down and kneel out the clock to secure their berth in Super Bowl LIX.
[22] During the second quarter, officials ruled that Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy made a completed catch over Bills safety Cole Bishop.
While the ruling on the field would stand following a challenge from Bills coach Sean McDermott, video replay had shown that the ball hit the ground.
The official NFL rulebook states:[24] If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers.
And once you get it that close it’s gonna be tough to overturn.An article from Sports Illustrated also noted the questionable ball spotting during Buffalo's offensive drives, accusing the officiating crew of moving the Bills behind the first down marker.
On the Bills’ final possession of the game, Allen threw an incomplete pass to tight end Dalton Kincaid that was dropped.
"[30] The NFL Referee Association’s executive director, Scott Green, also echoed Goodell's opinion, adding that officiating crews do not work the same team more than twice in the regular season.