The Buffalo Bills fell to a familiar foe in their second trip to the AFC Championship game in head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure.
The Kansas City Chiefs won another postseason matchup against the Bills by a final score of 32-29 to stay undefeated in their postseason matchups with Buffalo in the postseason during the Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen era.
“We’ve got to keep working to get over that hump,” McDermott said during his postgame media availability. “We’ve won a lot of tough games this year against really good opponents, (we have) good coaches and I’m proud of this football team for it.”
He also noted “There’s momentum going into next year” and that he is “Thankful for the success we had this year.”
The spectrum of emotions and reflection on the 2024 season and playoff run were evident among the players and coaches after the loss.
“Everybody’s got one goal, but only one team handles the goal at the end of every year,” veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas said after the game, per The Buffalo News. “All other 31 is just trying to get to that goal.”
Veteran outside linebacker Von Miller is no stranger to big games in the playoffs, having won Super Bowls with the Broncos and Rams. He realizes that it’s normal as players to put this game under the microscope and examine the ways things could have been different, while also acknowledging the positive takeaways.
“Man, after a loss like that, sometimes it’s if we could have did this, if we could have did that, if we could have did this, maybe the outcome would have been different,” the pass rusher said per NFL Network‘s Cameron Wolfe.
“But we did everything in our power to win this game. It just wasn’t for us. Losses hurt. It’s supposed to hurt. Adversity like this reveals character. We’ve got high-character guys in this whole organization, and we’ll be back.”
He was not alone in his assessment that believes Buffalo will play their way back to this round of the playoffs with another chance to advance in the future.
“We could get right back here,” corner Taron Johnson said to the press in the locker room. “We have the ability to get to the Super Bowl.”
The postseason losses to Kansas City do not get any easier, especially when there were opportunities to win the game.
Nonetheless, the mission to overcome those obstacles to advance to the Super Bowl remains in focus for the Bills.
Their front office and coaching staff will now be tasked with an offseason in which to improve the roster and the team’s chances of returning to the AFC Championship game with a chance to do just that.
“This is obviously a challenge for us, but we’ll figure it out,” head coach Sean McDermott added.
