Mahomes's 3 TDs too much for Bills as Kansas City books Super Bowl rematch with Eagles

Patrick Mahomes threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, ran through the Buffalo defence for two more scores, and relied on his defence at key moments to help Kansas City beat Buffalo 32-29 on Sunday night and reach the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season.

Now, the AFC champions will try to do something no other NFL team has done: Win all three.

Kansas City will get a familiar foe in the Eagles, whom they beat two years ago for the first title in this run. Philadelphia romped to a 55-23 victory over the Washington Commanders earlier Sunday to earn a shot at the champs on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.

"I'm proud of my teammates and how they responded," said Mahomes, taking his oh-so-familiar place atop the victory stand and the Lamar Hunt Trophy raised aloft. "That was a great football team and I'm just at a loss for words."

It's the fourth time since January 2021 that Kansas City has ended Buffalo's season in the playoffs. And like all the rest, it came after a heavyweight fight between two of the top teams in the AFC, one that was tied 29-all after Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen found Curtis Samuel in the back of the end zone to set up a little more drama at Arrowhead Stadium.

Mahomes was simply unflappable, though. He completed four consecutive passes on the ensuing possession, setting up Harrison Butker's go-ahead field goal with 3:33 left and putting the Bills in another do-or-die situation in Kansas City.

Allen got their drive going by running for a first down, but his next two throws were batted at the line of scrimmage and fell incomplete. He hit Amari Cooper for a short gain on third down, and the Bills chose to go for it — they were 4 of 5 on fourth down at that point — and the Kansas City blitz forced Allen to loft up a prayer that Dalton Kincaid could not catch.

Kansas City took over, picked up a couple of first downs and began to celebrate once again.

"I think I've always said it: It's not about one guy. It's not about a couple guys. It's about the whole entire team," said Mahomes, joined by Andy Reid and Travis Kelce in the celebration. "When we needed the defence to get stops, they got stops. Offence, we made plays. That's why we're so special; it's a team effort and it's a team football game."

Kareem Hunt had a touchdown run and Xavier Worthy had six catches for 85 yards and a score for Kansas City, which became the fourth franchise to reach three consecutive Super Bowls with its ninth consecutive playoff victory.

Allen threw for 237 yards and two scores for Buffalo. James Cook ran for 85 yards and two touchdowns of his own.

The Bills still have not been to the Super Bowl since a run of four straight during the 1990-93 seasons.

"Not the result we wanted," Bills coach Sean McDermott said. "I told them they've got nothing to be ashamed of and I love them."

Buffalo and Kansas City have become well acquainted over the years, meeting seven times since Kansas City beat Buffalo under the exact same circumstances — the AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium — to reach the Super Bowl in January 2021.

Buffalo had won all four games in the regular season. Kansas City had won the three that mattered in the post-season.

And that familiarity, along with the fact that Bills coach Sean McDermott once worked for Kansas City counterpart Andy Reid, was evident as the game transpired. The Bills simply refused to let tight end Travis Kelce beat them, like he did against the Texans in the divisional round, while Kansas City was prepared for Allen's propensity to take off and run.

Mahomes and Hunt ran for scores and Worthy had a touchdown reception as the teams traded the lead. Cook reached the end zone for Buffalo, and a spectacular touchdown catch by Mack Hollins just before halftime kept the Bills in the game.

It remained a game of inches in the second half: Cook barely reached across the goal line for a touchdown, Kansas City stopped Allen inches shy of the marker on fourth down, Mahomes bulldozed into the end zone for a score, and the Bills answered with a 70-yard drive in which their MVP-candidate quarterback hit Samuel on fourth-and-goal to tie the game at 29-all.

Fifty-three minutes and 45 seconds had been rendered moot. Everything came down to the last 6:45 of the game.

Hurts, Barkley power Eagles past Commanders

Saquon Barkley dashed 60 yards for a touchdown on Philadelphia's first play and finished with 118 yards and three scores, Jalen Hurts rushed for three TDs and the Eagles soared into the Super Bowl with a 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

Hurts and the Eagles are in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons, and this time Barkley is along for the ride. The Eagles will play former coach Andy Reid's Kansas City.

"I ain't gonna lie — I tried to downplay it in my head, but it's just amazing, man. It's amazing. We're here. The Super Bowl," Barkley said. "But the goal wasn't just getting there. The goal is to win. And we're going to celebrate and enjoy this and get right back to work."

The 55 points are the most any team has scored in a conference championship game since the 1970 merger.

Hurts, wearing a brace on his left knee, also threw for 246 yards and a touchdown pass and the Eagles had a towel-waving crowd in a frenzy for the NFC championship game at Lincoln Financial Field.

"How about our quarterback? How about our quarterback! He's a stud," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "I knew he was going to play that way. I knew it. Don't doubt him. All he does is win."

A.J. Brown caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown and the Eagles scored a season high in points to usher the franchise into their fifth Super Bowl.

The Commanders played a role in getting the NFC title game to Philly with two straight road wins — including last week's stunner at No. 1 seed Detroit that set the stage for the second-seeded Eagles to host.

Jayden Daniels threw for 255 yards with one touchdown, one interception and fell short in his bid to become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl. The Commanders were doomed by four turnovers, including a lost fumble by Austin Ekeler in the third quarter and the Commanders down 34-23.

"We believed that we belonged here," Daniels said. "It was just another game for me. That's how I treated it."

The Eagles cut to other stars from that game in attendance on the big screen and now — two years after Eagles lost to Kansas City in the Super Bowl — the franchise has a chance at winning their second one.

The Eagles recovered a fumble on the next drive and Barkley added a 4-yard run — making him 2-for-2 on carries and touchdowns — for a 14-3 lead.

Daniels, who led the Commanders to six consecutive victories, made his share of big plays that included a 36-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin that pulled them to 14-12.

"I had a lot of confidence in what we would do and how we would play," Commanders coach Dan Quinn said.

Hurts, who hurt his knee when he was sacked last week by the Rams, had his best game yet in a post-season where the Eagles played all three games at home. He closed the first half with a tush push 1-yard touchdown and threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Brown to send the Eagles into halftime with a 27-15 lead.

Hurts secured the Super Bowl berth with a tush push touchdown in the fourth quarter — after a humorous moment when an official said he'd award the Eagles a touchdown if Washington didn't stop jumping offside — and his ninth career postseason rushing score gave them a 41-23 lead.

Small amounts of green confetti started to fly from the upper deck at that point at the countdown was officially on for the Super Bowl.