5 years. 4 chances- all ended up in a loss. That too against the same opponent. The Buffalo Bills’ agonies against the Kansas City Chiefs seem to be never-ending. In the 2020 season, the Chiefs trampled the Bills in the AFC Championship game. The following year, they edged out Buffalo in a nail-biting Divisional Round overtime thriller, thanks to Patrick Mahomes’ game-tying drive with a mere 13 seconds remaining at Arrowhead. Fast forward 2 years, Mahomes & Co. once again eliminated Josh Allen and the Bills from the playoffs in a second-round encounter, in which Buffalo’s kicker Tyler Bass missed a crucial game-tying field goal. But they might remember Sunday’s loss for quite some time, especially for a questionable call on Josh Allen’s Fourth Down Attempt.

The call might well be the turning point of the game. The Bills, facing a fourth-and-short while down by one point early in the fourth quarter, called a QB sneak for Josh Allen. Allen appeared to get past the line to gain amidst a slew of Kansas City Chiefs defenders, but was pushed back by the end of the play and the ball was spotted short of the first down. An overhead camera view appeared to show Allen clearly getting well past the marker. Even CBS rules official Gene Steratore thought that Allen got the first. However, the referees on the field differed. The call stood. The Bills turned the ball over. The Chiefs took advantage, scoring a touchdown shortly thereafter.

Bills coach Sean McDermott let it all out about the refereeing. “I thought he had it,” McDermott said per Pro Football Talk. “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.” If all this was not enough, spreading salt on their wound further, the league came down heavily on two of the Bills players.

The NFL’s operations division’s update has choked the Bills for unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness, and other reasons. After Patrick Mahomes extended the Chiefs’ lead to 21-10 on a 1-yard touchdown with roughly 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter, Kelce got in the faces of two Bills defenders. Phillips took exception and came over to the tight end and bumped him with his facemask. However, only Phillips received a flag. Later, the league fined Bills’ Jordan Phillips $6,722 for the unnecessary roughness in the second quarter of the AFC Championship game. Kelce was also penalized for the incident, receiving a $11,255 fine for “unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting).”

Notably, Phillips has this reputation for bringing in a dash of energy and setting a tone on the gridiron. and that has landed him in trouble on a previous occasion as well. During the Bills’ week 10 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Phillips was fined for “unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting)” as a result of his second-quarter conversation with Zaire Franklin. Interestingly, on that occasion, the amount of the fine was also $6,722.

And other than Phillips, the league also fined Bills linebacker Matt Milano. The Bills #58 will have to pay $11,255 for unnecessary roughness. He drew a flag after he tackled running back Kareem Hunt, on a drive that ended with Harrison Butker’s game-winning 35-yard field goal with 3 minutes, 33 seconds to play. But beyond everything, if there is one thing that took over the aftermath of the Bills–Chiefs game, that is the backlash against the referees and complaints of favoritism toward the Chiefs. However, looks like, Coach Sean was not completely unaware that it might come.

Josh Allen’s HC had warned the locker room about referee bias

Well, McDermott had talked to the team in the locker room about what could happen in the championship game. Sean McDermott had said to Josh Allen and the team, “We’re not going to get calls.” The same situation had happened with the Texans. Their head coach DeMeco Ryans had clarified to the media after the divisional game: “We knew going into this game, it was us versus everybody. When I say everybody, it’s everybody. The naysayers, the doubt, everybody we had to go up against today.” This story perfectly fits with McDermott.

Top Comment by Zato

4 fumbles, two failed 2-point conversions, multiple dropped passes and blown coverages… but yeah, it was the refs.

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To elaborate, when addressing the press, Sean McDermott continued, “We went into the game and one of my messages to the team, and this happens from time to time, is you’re going to have to — you’re not going to get calls.” Josh Allen’s HC further added, “And I think just when you prepare a team, you prepare them ahead of time, mentally, for this is the way it’s going down. And you live with that. That’s not the reason why we lost.”

Indeed, the championship loss was a big hit for Josh Allen as the team’s leader. Reportedly, he did not talk to anyone for hours after the heartbreaking three-point loss. But Allen behaved like a true sportsman after the loss. He pulled off a class act during his interaction with Mahomes after the game. The NFL films released the mic’d-up moments from the contest that featured the conversation. “Hell of a year, man. Hell of a year,” the Chiefs’ QB said to Allen. Allen responded, “Go get another one,” he told Mahomes for his third Super Bowl. Mahomes also had only good things to say about Allen.

“I always feel for him—he’s a great player, an amazing competitor and an awesome dude who I respect so much,” Mahomes said. “I’m sorry it had to be us. But, you know, we compete, and someone has to win.” But it stands true that Allen is the first quarterback in the league to lose to the same opponent four times. Buffalo would surely want Allen to be back with a winning mentality again when the next season starts on September 6.