Kansas City Chiefs edge past Buffalo Bills to book AFC Championship return
A missed failed goal late on ended the Bills hopes of progressing.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Kansas City Chiefs edged past the Buffalo Bills 27-24 to reach the AFC Championship.
Bills kicker Tyler Bass had an opportunity to level the scores in the final two minutes, but his 44-yard field goal attempt missed to the right.
Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco grabbed the crucial score at the start of the fourth quarter, going in from four yards.
Travis Kelce had earlier caught two touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes as the lead changed hands five times.
Quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns for the Bills, as well as connecting with Khalil Shakir from 13 yards.
The Chiefs will now head to the Baltimore Ravens to play in their sixth straight AFC title game.
The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991 with a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 74 yards and a score as the Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, set up an NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.
Ford Field was fired up before kick-off and the atmosphere went up another notch when the first Bucs drive ended with Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into the arms of CJ Gardner-Johnson.
The two teams traded field goals before Detroit got rolling behind rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who had three straight catches of 13, two and 15 yards to get them upfield before Goff threw a nine-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds.
Tampa Bay responded late in the half, with Mayfield hitting Mike Evans from 29 yards to get the Bucs to the two-yard line before throwing a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.
Detroit were back on top with 3:51 left in the third quarter when they went for it fourth down from a yard out, with Craig Reynolds powering through, but Tampa Bay again found a response at the end of the quarter as an off-balance Mayfield found Rachaad White with a 12-yard touchdown.
The see-saw continued as Gibbs ran in from 31 yards to put Detroit back on top and they finally broke the pattern when Tampa Bay were forced to punt and Goff hit Amon-Ra St Brown with a perfect nine-yard touchdown pass.
The Bucs were not done yet as Evans reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass and they had the ball back inside the final two minutes, only for Mayfield to be picked off by Derrick Barnes to spark huge celebrations in Detroit.