One Stat Recap: Buffalo Bills can’t hold on to early lead

When Buffalo Bills fans were dreaming of how the AFC Championship matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs would go, few would have complained about an opening drive 51-yard field goal, a Chiefs three-and-out followed closely by a muffed punt on fourth down, and an easy Dawson Knox touchdown. This sequence (and a Tyler Bass missed extra point) was nearly a perfect start to the game and it gave the Bills a nine-point lead on the Chiefs. Everyone watching in red, white, and blue was excited, but knew the team would need to score more to hold off Patrick Mahomes’s explosive offense.

Unfortunately, Josh Allen and the Bills’ offense could not keep up with Mahomes, Kelce, and Hill and that nine-point lead was gone nearly as quickly as it was amassed. In blowing that nearly double-digit lead, the Bills became just the fourth team since 1940 to lose a conference championship game after leading by at least nine points at the close of the first quarter. They became the first team to do so in the AFC Championship. Not exactly the type of history the team set out to make this postseason.