Allen and Mahomes renew play-off rivalry as Chiefs chase ‘three-peat’

NFL Conference Championships

Date: 26 January 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs’ quest for NFL immortality is still alive and only two games until Super Bowl 59 are left.

Since Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005, the Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowls last year.

Only three other teams have won the Chiefs’ third Super Bowl appearance in five years.

No team hasn’t, however, ever won three Super Bowls in succession.

The AFC Conference’s No. 1 seed, Kansas City, earned a bye for the first week of play-offs, and they made history last week when they defeated Houston Texans in the Divisional Round.

Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen will now square off against the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s AFC Championship game (23:30 GMT), which means quarterback Mahomes will rekindle his feud with Allen, who is the favorite to win the MVP award this year.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who the Chiefs defeated in Super Bowl 57, are the favorites to win the NFL Championship in New Orleans on February 9.

Eight teams have won the Super Bowl in succession, and five of them advanced to the playoffs the following year.

Two were knocked out in the Divisional Round, while the other three lost in the Conference Championships.

That means that Kansas City has already come the closest to achieving an unprecedented “three-peat” and has already gone as far as anyone else since the Dallas Cowboys in 1994.

Dallas beat Buffalo in their back-to-back Super Bowl wins, ending an agonising run for the Bills. From 1991 to 1994, they lost four straight Super Bowls.

Since being drafted in 2018, Josh Allen has helped turn Buffalo into play-off regulars again, with this their sixth straight post-season campaign.

The issue is that Patrick Mahomes was chosen by Kansas City in 2017, and the Chiefs have proved to be their worst enemy, dropping them from the playoffs three of the past four times.

The head-to-head record for Allen and Mahomes is 4-4 but all Buffalo’s wins have come in the regular season.

Buffalo made its first three straight Divisional Round exits, but many neutrals believe that this could be their year because they have re-entered the Bills Mafia, or as their fans are known.

“I think America wants the Bills to win”, Washington’s British defensive end Efe Obada told BBC Sport. “I think they’re tired of Kansas City.

They are engaged in their own conflict, which will make for an incredible game.

As a dual-threat quarterback, Allen has always had huge arm strength and can run the ball, but this season the 28-year-old has become far more efficient and is protecting the ball better.

That’s helped Buffalo become the NFL’s second-highest scorers with a record of 13 wins and four defeats, including wins over the two teams with the league’s best record (15-2) – Detroit and Kansas City. Then last week Buffalo beat Baltimore and Allen’s main rival for the MVP award, Lamar Jackson.

The Chiefs have a propensity to win ugly this season. They have won several close games, resulting in their lowest point differential among teams with 14 or more wins (+59).

They are also on a 16-game winning streak, which is an NFL record, which suggests they are far more than just “lucky.”

Detroit, the NFC’s top seed, was defeated by Washington, the second-place team, 45-31 at home.

The Eagles are now the favorites to win the Super Bowl after the Lions lost the NFC Championship game thanks to that.

Only Baltimore and Saquon Barkley had more yards rushing for more than Philly, and Saquon Barkley had the most yards rushing overall with 2, 005 yards.

He added two touchdowns to his 205 in last week’s win over the Los Angeles Rams, but Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was sidelined in practice this week because of a knee injury.

” Saquon is a once-in-a-lifetime running back, so we’ve got to get rid of their running game and make them throw the ball, “said Obada, who is currently on Washington’s practice squad.

As divisional rivals, Philadelphia and Washington faced each other twice in the regular season, winning one apiece.

Jayden Daniels, the Commanders’ quarterback, and Dan Quinn, the team’s new head coach, helped them drop from 4-13 last year to 12-5 after being selected second in the draft last year. Washington has entered the playoffs for the first time since winning the Super Bowl in 1991.

Daniels, 24, is a clear favorite for rookie of the year after setting rookie records for passing completion and rushing yards (891) He aims to be the first quarterback to reach the Super Bowl, becoming only the sixth rookie quarterback to do so.

Washington has a knack for winning close games, just like the Chiefs. They are on a seven-game winning streak, with five of them won on the game’s last play, including their first play-off win in 19 years.