The playoff lore of the Chiefs vs. Bills continues. Of course, the Bills had an upper hand before entering the Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC Championship round, given their week 11 triumph against the Chiefs. But the Chiefs remembered their 3-0 playoff record against them and guess what? The record now stands tall at 4-0 in the last five seasons as they’re now one step closer to the historic 3-peat. Honestly, it’s quite disappointing for the MVP contender, Josh Allen.

After an incredible season, Allen came up just short of that Super Bowl dream. There are a few reasons for the loss—whether it was McDermott’s questionable clock management or that brutal first-down no-call in the fourth quarter. But when all is said and done, it was the Bills’ QB who walked off the field with the weight of it all on his shoulders. Now, Jos Buscaglia from The Athletic has shared how Allen was really feeling after the tough defeat.

Remember that moment when you’re standing somewhere, body in the moment, but your mind’s already miles away, replaying everything that could’ve been? Yeah, that’s what Josh Allen has been going through ever since that championship loss. “For the next ten minutes, Allen sat in that (locker) stall, staring off into the distance,” national reporter, Buscaglia reported. “It’s a similar stare to the one he wears after challenging losses, with his body physically there but his mind dancing through the what-could-have-beens.”

Can you really blame him? At 6:15 in the fourth, he gave it everything, throwing a perfect pass to Curtis Samuel to tie the game at 29. But then Harrison Butker’s field goal crushed all those Super Bowl dreams, with the Bills falling 32-29. It’s gut-wrenching, and honestly, Allen was left speechless, just sitting in silence in his locker stall.

But then, when OC Joe Brady walked up and pulled him in for a hug, it snapped Allen out of his trance—if only for a second. He hugged it out, then slipped right back into that same spot with that same distant stare. And of course, he isn’t the only one with a heavy heart. The head coach is also disappointed after the loss.

McDermott’s stance on Josh Allen’s first-down no-call

Before the game kicked off, Josh Allen didn’t think that the last 15 minutes of the game would turn out to be a total nightmare. The reason? Well, the Bills were leading with 13:01 remaining in the fourth quarter. They go for it on the fourth-and-1 at the Chiefs’ 41-yard line. Though Chiefs managed to slow Allen down near the line of scrimmage, Allen still managed to push forward just enough to reach the yardage needed to gain a first down.

The kicker? The sidelines review suggested that the ball reached the 40-yard line, but the clear view of the ball was blocked on both angles that restricted a definitive view. And what happened next? The officials ruled the QB short on the field. Now, the head coach came up with a response to this controversial decision. When asked if he got any kind of look at the review, McDermott gave a straightforward answer.

“I mean the look we had in the stadium, which you don’t know if they’re, I don’t know for sure because they have a mixed look,” he said. “Uh feed in the stadium if it’s the same feed that the TV had or not. I thought he had it. The line was just short of the line was actually the first down. What it looked like to me when it was sitting next to me with the marker, just inside that white stripe, was the first down and it looked like he got to it. That’s all I can say.”

But at the end of the day, the refs ruled the Bills short, and the Chiefs took the advantage of it. Five plays later, Mahomes scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown and followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Justin Watson, the QB gave a 29-22 lead to the Chiefs. And the Bills? Well, even after their nine-play, 70-yard touchdown to tie the game, Josh Allen and Co. fell short by 3 point, or a field goal, to be specific.