Chiefs bested 28-21 as Mahomes, defense struggle in fifth-straight regular season loss to Bills
Kansas City’s late rally falls short as Allen outduels Mahomes and Buffalo’s offense controls the pace.
The Kansas City Chiefs (5-4) got a little taste of their own medicine that they had been dishing out over the last few weeks.
The Chiefs had their chances to make it a ballgame, but the Buffalo Bills (6-2) dominated this one from start to finish. Part 10 of the Mahomes-Allen dual had a score of 28-21 at the final whistle, marking he fifth-straight season Buffalo has topped Kansas City in the regular season.
“They (Bills) made those plays today,” Mahomes said. “Josh (Allen) played amazing. They ran the ball well, and their defense had a good game plan. It always comes down to these certain plays where you’ve got to go out there and make the play happen, and we weren’t able to do that today.”
Kansas City had come into the game winners in five of its last six. The only issue is their division rivals, the Denver Broncos (7-2) and Los Angeles Chargers (6-3), continue to stack wins.
The Chiefs have now amassed every loss by one score and every win by double-digits, a significant contrast to how they operated last season on their way to a 15-2 record.
“We have had great moments and we have had bad moments,” Mahomes said. “We’ve got to be more consistent as a team. I’ve got to be more consistent at quarterback. We’ve got to be able to battle. We’ve been in a lot of these close games in our history, but they are not going in our way now, so how can we deal with that adversity? How can we be better and learn from it? We can only learn from so many losses. You’ve got to learn from it fast, and it’s going to be an uphill battle when we get back, but I think our guys are up to it.”
The Bills executed their opening game script to perfection after the Chiefs won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. By the end of that drive, quarterback Josh Allen found Joshua Kincaid wide open for a 23-yard touchdown.
It was the beginning of a big afternoon for Kincaid, who wound up breaking 100 yards for the second time in his career.
After a three-and-out to begin offensively, the Chiefs’ defense answered back, forcing two stops before Kansas City grabbed a 10-7 lead.
Wide receiver Rashee Rice opened the scoring drive with a 20-yard gain. It ended with a three-yard touchdown rush out of the wildcat formation before kicker Harrison Butker drilled a 46-yarder on the ensuing drive after turning Buffalo over on downs.
That was the last time the Chiefs remotely had any control over the game.
Two long drives that sandwiched the Chiefs’ own turnover-on-downs forced a 21-10 Buffalo lead late in the first half after running back Ty Johnson and Allen each rushed for touchdowns.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown and quarterback Patrick Mahomes did keep the game competitive by connecting on a 40-yard deep pass near the end of the second quarter. Although that marched them down to the one, Butker came on to make it 21-13 going into the half after a Bills goalline stand.
“We’ve got to be able to find a way to get in the end zone,” Mahomes said. “After the big play … We got to find a way to get in the end zone. I’ve got to be better there. Situationally, we had a couple of those where we didn’t execute at a high enough level, and that’s why we got the loss.”
Both teams’ defenses settled in to begin the second half, with the Chiefs punting twice and the Bills punting in between, but chunk plays left and right on Buffalo’s second drive of the second half sealed the Chiefs’ fate.
The drive ended with Allen punching in his second quarterback sneak to take a 28-13 lead with just over one minute to go in the third quarter.
A 29-yard pass to Rice on a fourth and 17 gave the Chiefs hope on the next drive, setting them up at the Bills’ 11. Kansas City then converted another fourth-down attempt with running back Kareem Hunt busting through for a two-yard touchdown rush.
“Big play, but obviously we didn’t capitalize on the momentum of that play,” Mahomes said.
Down seven, after a successful two-point conversion pass to tight end Travis Kelce, the defense did its job. Allen and company ticked over four minutes off the clock before ultimately being forced to punt.
A Chiefs drive that started with a chance to tie it up at 28 got off to a fine start with a 13-yard gain from Kelce. Unfortunately, it ended three plays later with a third-and-10 interception where Mahomes heaved it to wide receiver Xavier Worthy deep down the right sideline into double-coverage, putting an end to a porous day offensively.
“You don’t want to throw interceptions, don’t get me wrong,” Mahomes said. “But if you are going to throw one, make it downfield and give the guy a chance in that situation … There’s no reason to take a sack there. Throw it up there and throw it up there and maybe you make a big time play or something like that, but they made a play and were in the right coverage.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo forced a long field goal attempt, which doinked off the goalpost, on Buffalo’s final offensive possession. Still, another near four-minute drive that took all of Reid’s timeouts was enough to keep this one out of reach.
The game ended with a failed Hail Mary upon getting one last-ditch effort of a drive that started at their own 42 with 22 seconds left in the game. Mahomes got his unit to the Bills’ 40 after an 18-yard gain to Worthy, but quick pressure on the game’s final play made it null.
Mahomes played his worst game of the season, with Buffalo getting constant pressure on him all night. Mahomes was hit a season-high 15 times and was sacked three times, reminiscent of the 2024 woes.
“They had a really good plan, man,” Mahomes said. “They have good pass rushers, and they had a good plan of doing some games and stuff up front and pushing the pocket. Credit to them. They had a great plan, and they have great players, and they made a lot of plays today.”
He posted the lowest completion percentage of his entire career at 44.1 percent, going 15-for-34. He still managed to reach 250 yards, but threw zero touchdowns and one interception.
“When they were playing the man-type coverages, trying to get some guys open down the field, they did a good job of pushing the pocket,” Mahomes said. “I’ve got to be better at working the pocket, finding different lanes to step up through. When I was able to, we were able to hit some shots down the field, but we have to be more consistent with that.”
His leading receivers were Rice, Brown and Kelce, who finished with 80, 73 and 66 yards, respectively.
Hunt did an admirable job filling in for injured running back Isiah Pacheco, but playing from behind most of the game, he only took 11 carries. The veteran tallied 49 yards and a touchdown, good for 4.5 yards per carry.
Allen, who evened the head-to-head matchup to 5-5, including postseason games, played near flawlessly. Contrary to Mahomes, Allen posted his career-best completion percentage with an 88.5 after going 23-for-26.
Allen racked up three total touchdowns (one passing, two rushing), to go along with his 279 yards through the air and 19 on the ground.
“If we plan on winning, especially the front-four defensive linemen, we’ve got to affect the quarterback,” Jones said. “We’ve got to, and it makes it easier for the defense, and it makes it easier for the back end. We got to take advantage of one-on-ones. When we get a single block, you’ve got to win. That’s huge going forward. We gotta emphasize winning one-on-ones.”
By no means did the Chiefs front keep pressure on Allen as the Bills did Mahomes, but they did sack him three times. Linebacker Leo Chenal and cornerback Trent McDuffie each notched a sack, while defensive ends George Karlaftis and Ashton Gillote split one.
For the most part, the Bills did what they wanted, only tallying one three-and-out. They went 7-for-12 on third downs and outgained the Chiefs 404-to-305. Buffalo nearly possessed the ball for 10 minutes more than Kansas City and were a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone.
Kincaid was not the only Buffalo weapon to rack up over 100 yards, either. Running back James Cook, who came into the week as the NFL’s second-leading rusher, ran for 114 yards on 27 carries.
“They got the run-game going,” Reid said. “Right when you think they are going to run, they come back with play action or naked (bootleg).”
It was the first time the Chiefs’ defense had allowed a 100-yard rusher since Christmas of 2023, and the first time they had allowed a 100-yard receiver since Week 15 last season.
“Usually we’ve been doing a really good job of getting the tackle, wrapping them up and solidifying the play,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “Today, we had a couple of broken tackles, which led to bigger runs. We gave up a few open throws, whether it was miscommunication or just out of place. That is a lot of errors and key components that we can fix on our end, and we got a week off to get some guys healthy, look over this game, correct some errors, and get back to it.”
Wide receiver Khalil Shakir had a solid day from the slot as well, hauling in seven of his eight targets for 43 yards, consistently helping Allen move the chains. That said, 149 of Allen’s 279 yards went to tight ends, Kincaid, Dawson Knox or Jackson Hawes.
Nick Bolton and McDuffie paced the Chiefs with 14 and 12 tackles. That hardly tells the story of the matchup, though. The Bills’ offense controlled the game as Kansas City had no tackles for loss outside of its sacks, Bryan Cook logged the lone pass breakup, and Allen was hit only six times.
“They got us in one-on-one situations there, and they did a nice job,” Reid said. “Tough ask. We didn’t have enough pressure on him to make it rush it. They had a little time to allow that to happen.”
The Chiefs have some work to do, currently at 5-4, as they have lost tie-breakers to the Bills, Los Angeles Chargers, and Jacksonville Jaguars, all of whom are currently occupying a playoff spot, while the Chiefs find themselves on the outside looking in.
All is not lost as Kansas City has beaten the Bills four-straight times in the playoffs following a loss in the regular season. Another Orchard Park matchup in January feels inevitable after the Bills played their A-game here in Week 9.
“We’ve got to get there (playoffs) first,” Mahomes said. “We’ve got a lot of good teams in our division, and they’re playing really good football. We’re down there in third play, and so we’ve got to get back and get ourselves right … Right after the bye, we’re playing Denver. So, that’ll be a huge game for us.”
INJURIES
Mahomes’ feeling the pressure was not without reason. Jaylon Moore struggled at times, still filling in for first-round pick left tackle Josh Simmons (personal). Right tackle Jawaan Taylor (ankle) left this one, with Wanya Morris finishing the game. Left guard Kingsley Suamataia left for a brief time after limping off the field as well, but returned on the same drive.
UP NEXT
The trade deadline looms, with it coming to a close on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. CT. That takes place in the midst of a Week 10 bye week before Kansas City will travel to Denver to take on the AFC West-leading Broncos (7-2) in Week 11.
“I don’t think we need to make any drastic changes,” Jones said. “I feel like we have the guys to do it. I think more so detailing our work, looking at ourselves in the mirror, holding ourselves accountable. We got a lot of great guys in this room who take accountability for their play and responsibilities. So, I’m quite sure for this week, they’re going to get their bodies healthy, detail their work, and we’re going to come back ready to play Denver.”
