The Kansas City Chiefs have moved one game away from achieving an unprecedented NFL feat courtesy of an enthralling win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship match, which propelled them into Super Bowl LIX.
The 2023 and 2024 champions triumphed 32-29 at Arrowhead Stadium to book their ticket to Caesars Superdome, where they will endeavour to become the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a row.
Trailing 21-22 heading into the fourth quarter, the Chiefs' star quarterback Patrick Mahomes registered a 10-yard touchdown run, only for his opposite number Josh Allen to reply with a four-yard pass to Curtis Samuel.
With nothing able to separate the two AFC contenders at 29-29, Harrison Butker's 35-yard kick re-established a three-point advantage for the Chiefs, who proceeded to stop the Bills on a crucial fourth down to ensure their place in New Orleans.
As the reigning champions chase an unprecedented Super Bowl feat, they have already become just the fourth side to reach three successive Super Bowls, and the first since the New England Patriots from 2016-2018.
The Bills themselves (1990-1993) and the Miami Dolphins (1971-1973) also made it to three Super Bowls in a row, while Mahomes now has 17 post-season wins to his name, the outright second-most for a quarterback after Tom Brady's 35.
Eagles crush Commanders to set up Chiefs rematch
The @Chiefs are the first back-to-back champs in history to make it back to the Super Bowl the following season 😱 pic.twitter.com/UfQIb9SChJ
— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2025
Prior to the Chiefs' momentous success, the Philadelphia Eagles made much lighter work of the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game to advance to their fifth Super Bowl, and second in three years.
Nick Sirianni's merciless men strolled to a 55-23 thrashing of the Commanders, where the irrepressible pair of Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley also wrote a new page of NFL history.
The pair became the first-ever players from the same team to register three rushing touchdowns each in one NFL playoff game, where Barkley kicked off the rout with a 60-yard run.
Meanwhile, Hurts banished any concerns over a lingering knee injury as he also threw for A.J. Brown towards the end of the second quarter, before a Will Shipley rush with 3:03 left on the clock completed the crushing.
The Eagles will now be gunning for just their second Super Bowl title after trumping the Patriots 41-33 at Super Bowl LII in 2017, six years before an agonising 35-38 loss to the Chiefs at Super Bowl LVII.
Ben Knapton
