Alaina Getzenberg, ESPNJ22. January 2024, 1:55 a.m. ET
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- Alaina Getzenberg is a staff writer who covers the Buffalo Bills and the NFL. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. You can follow her on Twitter @agetzenberg.
ORCHARD PARK, NY – The kick initially looked like it would go through the uprights. Then it abruptly changed direction, with Orchard Park's 11-13 mph winds helping to send the ball flying up and to the right, away from the post.
Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass' missed 44-yard field goal left the Kansas City Chiefs with 1:43 on the clock, the ball at the Chiefs' 34-yard line and a three-point lead.
“Ultimately it’s all up to me. I have to do better to achieve my goal,” Bass said. “I need to do a better job of playing it a little further to the left when playing left to right [wind]. I've been here long enough to know that you have to do this. You know, I trusted my line that I had in the warm-up. Hit a good ball but it didn't work. I feel terrible, you know? I love this team and it hurts. It hurts a lot. Yes, I have to do a better job. Totally on my side.”
Bass finished the regular season and postseason with the lowest field goal percentage of his four-year career (76.5%). Coach Sean McDermott said after the game that they had “complete confidence” in Bass. The coach also pointed out that the defense and special teams weren't playing the way we needed them to.
The field goal attempt will be just another what-if moment for the Bills in a game full of chances and a host of other game-winning moments that ended with more of the same. For the third straight year, the Bills' year ended with a 27-24 home loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs, extending the team's postseason record against Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback to 0-0. 3. Another postseason, another loss for Buffalo to Kansas City.
“I wish [Bass] “I wouldn’t have been in that situation,” quarterback Josh Allen said. “You win as a team, you lose as a team.” One play doesn’t define a game. It doesn't define a season. I know people out there will say that. We have to be there for him because we have performed a few pieces before and are probably singing a different song right now.”
Bass' kick was joined by two incompletions from the Kansas City 26-yard line, leading to the kick on a 16-play, 54-yard drive that ended with no points. That included a second-and-9 play where wide receiver Stefon Diggs got open as he ran down the middle of the field, but Allen targeted Khalil Shakir deep as he was pressured by defensive tackle Chris Jones . In addition, Diggs dropped a long pass on the first play of the last drive.
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The what-ifs for the Bills also extend to an offensive approach that resulted in them not having an offensive play of more than 18 yards, which was only the second time in Allen's 103 career starts, including playoffs , that the Bills had zero plays of over 20 yards in a game (Week 5, 2018). Allen averaged 0.7 air yards on 26 completions, with 24 coming within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Since 2006, only two quarterbacks have completed more than 20 passes in a game and averaged fewer air yards on their completions.
Allen finished the game completing 26 of 39 passing for 186 yards and a touchdown, as well as rushing for 72 yards on 12 carries and two rushing scores. There were no turnovers or sacks. The Bills owned the ball (37:03) but only scored seven points on offense in the second half.
“Losing sucks,” Allen said. “Losing to them, losing to anyone at home, sucks.”
Defensively, the Bills allowed two touchdowns on the Chiefs' first drives of the second half, and the big plays left their mark. The Chiefs had a season-high eight games in which they gained more than 20 yards. Injuries played a role on defense, but the unit was unable to force a turnover – something it prided itself on, with takeaway budgets a mark of a six-game winning streak the Bills came into the game with (at least one was recorded). in five of the games). The defense also allowed tight end Travis Kelce to loosen up, catching five receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns. The defense, which helped force Mecole Hardman out of bounds after a failed fake punt by the Bills on a carry by Damar Hamlin, didn't prove to be a game-changer.
“It’s just a matter of making the plays that come your way, making the tackles and doing your job,” defensive tackle DaQuan Jones said. “We didn’t make some of those plays and they exposed us.”
An offseason of big decisions and question marks awaits the Bills after another AFC East title – one that had a 4% chance, according to ESPN Analytics, when the Bills were 6-6 after Week 13. Another chance for the franchise's first Super Bowl title will wait another year.
“I am extremely disappointed. I mean, you put in so much time,” McDermott said. “We've put so much time into a season, let alone this game and preparing for it, and to come out and not perform as well as I had hoped, it's extremely disappointing and frustrating and it's kind of a situation in our business where you have to think about it all offseason, but it drives you even more, if that's even possible, to drive someone even more, drives you even more to come back next season and keep working on it.