Bills win battle vs. Chiefs, but the war will be decided in January

The Buffalo Bills ended the perfect season of the Kansas City Chiefs, and looked like the dominant team in doing so. They defeated the Chiefs 30-21 with the dagger coming on a fourth-down scramble from Josh Allen that ended 26 yards later with Allen celebrating in the end zone as the Bills went up two scores with just over two minutes remaining in the game. 

The Bills' defense was dominant all evening, limiting Patrick Mahomes to 196 yards on less than six yards per attempt, and keeping the Chiefs' ground game in check by allowing only 78 yards on the ground. Buffalo's stars came to play on both sides of the ball, as well. Amari Cooper had two catches, but both went for big yards on drives that ended in James Cook touchdowns. Khalil Shakir had a terrific game, catching eight passes for 70 yards. Terrel Bernard had eight tackles, including a sack, and had an interception in the waning minutes to put the icing on the cake.

Not only that, but the role players stepped up for Buffalo, as well. Curtis Samuel had his best game as a Bill, catching five passes for 58 yards and his first touchdown in a Bills uniform. Taylor Rapp had an interception on the second play from scrimmage. Cam Lewis had a big game with a sack out of the defensive backfield. All of this added up to a true team win for the Bills. 

And, of course, there is No. 17. In what Jim Nantz coined the "play of the year," Allen put the game on ice with the aforementioned 26 yard touchdown run and cemented himself as the MVP frontrunner. Without two of his best pass-catchers in Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid, Allen accounted for 317 yards of total offense and two total scores while leading the Bills to be the first team to score 28 points on the Chiefs in 31 games.

With all that said, this is a great win for the Bills and gives them a very good chance at earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC. However, the shot of Travis Kelce sarcastically clapping at the end of the game is emblematic of this rivalry. Buffalo is now 4-1 against the Chiefs in the Josh Allen era, but 0-3 in the postseason. The Bills may have won the battle, but the war will be decided in January.