The time machine is set to Sunday in Kansas City. The matchup we look forward to this weekend is the game we will revisit years from now.
It will tell us whether an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat bid survived, whether the Chiefs could ascend above every other NFL dynasty and become the first two-time defending champion to play for a third consecutive Super Bowl title. It will tell us whether the Bills reached the Super Bowl for the first time since losing four straight in the early 1990s, whether Josh Allen could slay his greatest tormenter and reach Patrick Mahomes’ pedestal.
Their fourth playoff battle in five years puts Mahomes and Allen one shy of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for the most head-to-head quarterback duels in postseason history. The NFL’s best rivalry since Brady-Manning is one of the strangest, though, with Allen winning four of five regular season meetings, but Mahomes claiming all three postseason matchups. No quarterback has ever defeated another four times in the playoffs.
Mahomes will be playing in his seventh straight AFC Championship, carrying an eight-game postseason win streak — two shy of Brady’s record — and looking to become the third quarterback to appear in five Super Bowls, five years ahead of Brady’s pace.
