Why the Chiefs face a new reality in the Patrick Mahomes Era after this loss to Bills
 

Von Miller walked behind the lectern inside the tight quarters of a room reserved for a Bills news conference, less than half an hour after his team beat the Chiefs here at Arrowhead Stadium. He began with an opening statement, of sorts. “Howdy,” he said, and then he offered a grin. “I came in this stadium a whole bunch of times, and I’ve been at this same podium, and I ain’t have no smile. So it’s good to come in here and smile.”

For years, the Denver Broncos could not beat the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs with Von Miller at this stadium, but on Sunday, the Bills would not have won without him. The marriage has helped form the team that is intentionally and blatantly built to beat the Chiefs, future ramifications be damned. But with a payoff. The Chiefs are no longer the best team in the NFL — a home defeat did not produce that statement, but rather cemented it. That title belongs to the Bills now, and for evidence, don’t look at the fact they won, but rather how they won.

Josh Allen was nails on the game-winning two-minute drill, which absorbed the kind of inevitability Patrick Mahomes has so often delivered others. But Allen was nails last time the Bills visited Kansas City. The difference this time? Their defense got the stop it could not get here in January. That was Miller’s doing, and it’s the reason the Bills felt comfortable paying a 33-year-old edge rusher $45 million guaranteed this summer, even if it means he will still be eating up cap space at age 37.

The final impact play reads as a Mahomes interception into the arms of Bills cornerback Taron Johnson, but Miller wrecked the play with pressure inside the edge of right tackle Andrew Wylie, forcing Mahomes into a throwing window he did not plan.

One drive earlier, Miller sacked Mahomes to end a drive the Chiefs would also like back. He is a difference-maker on a team that spent an offseason knowing it was 13 seconds shy of beating the Chiefs in January — heck, knowing it has spent the last two summers with a lot of time to dwell on the Kansas City Chiefs.

That’s the way it works now. The title of best-team-in-football will change course over the next decade, with the Chiefs glued to that mix, but the Patrick Mahomes Era will always include a general manager out there somewhere, constructing the blueprint of a roster to take him out, even if it means sacrificing part of his future to do it. The Bills are this year’s version, and maybe next year’s version, and maybe the version over the next few years.

But for the duration of Mahomes’ 10-year contract, there will be others. This is a new norm, a new reality confronting the Chiefs that is more complimentary than it appears on the face of it. The Bills do not care if Miller’s contract puts them in cap hell in two years, when he’s 35 and earns $22 million — he is the over-the-top addition to win games like the one they won Sunday. Or to win the exact game they won Sunday. And it worked. But barely.

It’s a weird spin to put a moral victory on a Mahomes loss — the Chiefs are not some sort of lovable underdogs, even if they were underdogs on this field Sunday for the first time in Mahomes’ career. While that’s not the intention, not all losses are created equally.

Three weeks ago in Indianapolis, the Chiefs looked capable of losing to just about anybody. On Sunday, the team that has eyed them for two offseasons with all resources on deck needed a lot of things to go right in the fourth quarter. This felt like a coin-toss game — though not quite as literally as last time.

The Chiefs are certainly not miles away, even after implementing an inverse offseason strategy, extending their championship window at the expense of a short-term hit. The gap between the Bills and Chiefs appears more razor-thin than I anticipated, and if you don’t expect they’ll get another shot, I’d like to see which team you think will get that shot at the Bills in the postseason.

“I think you just want to win, just because you’re a competitor and you know you’re playing the best of the best — and you feel like you’re the best of the best,” Mahomes said. “You wanna win those games. “At the end of the day, that’s something you gotta reiterate to the guys in the locker room — it’s one game in the regular season that you wanted to win, felt like you could win and you didn’t. So how are you going to respond?” The broader point is this: If you felt like the Chiefs could win the Super Bowl before Sunday, and count me on that list, why would a late interception do anything to change that?

The reverberation of the outcome is not that the Chiefs can no longer accomplish everything on their preseason goals list — rather, it’s that for the first time since Mahomes became the franchise quarterback, he might need to go on the road to accomplish them. The Bills have a leg up on the race for homefield.

But otherwise, nobody needs a reminder that the Chiefs lost this same game, which arrived in similar timing on the schedule, just a year ago. In a much worse fashion, to boot. And then they won the rematch. A lot can happen between now and the time the playoffs arrive — three months can resemble a lifetime in football — so a rematch is not guaranteed. But there’s not another team in the AFC that belonged on the field with either of these teams. There is, however, a key difference if they do meet again — a difference that could become more convention, less abnormal.

They’ll be the underdogs.

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TL;DR

Don't know how you guys will take this article, but Wylie was pushed all over the field. Von Miller made a huge difference for the Bills.

Then you're really an imbecile. It's a good article.

So my question is this. I’m not exactly happy with the work Veach has done, but at the end of the day I do understand the Chiefs are in the midst of a reload. My question is, Mahomes’ contract is here to stay. They no longer have a QB on a rookie contract, and soon neither will the Bills. That being said, do we think KC will take the slow and steady approach and be content with having a chance nearly every year, or do we see KC going “all in” from time to time and capitalizing with a Von Miller-esque addition or two to put them over the top?

It's just one game. Not sure it's the 'turning point' of the Chiefs trajectory. At all.

I'm reminded of when the Pats got gangraped by a Alex Smith led Chiefs team a few years ago, the Pats were stumbling out of the gate and all the talking heads went nuts talking about how the Patriots dynasty was certainly over. And of course, everyone bought that shit. And Bill came out with what is now a gif: "we're on to CLE," or whatever team he said.

We lost a game to a great team.

With a Chiefs team that literally rebuilt the entire WR room excepting Hardman, had to replace a pair of All-Pro OTs, and replaced about half the starting defense. Never mind the injuries and the lack of Willie Gay due to suspension that hobbled the defense for this particular game.

It's really going to be okay. We lost by four points to the number 1 scoring offense in the league, so obviously the defense is better than just average, because BUF regularly puts 30+ on the 'average' NFL defense this season. And the offense is coming together as well, seeing as how the Chiefs are a top-5 offense through six weeks.

I've said over and over, and others have as well, that it was always going to take some time for the team to become everything they could be. I said about 9-11 weeks. Others thought whatever they thought about the exact timing. Whatever.

The point is that this team today is not the same team that will be taking the field in two months. According to the Chiefs' own recent history in the Andy Reid/Brett Veach era, the team will steadily improve and be significantly better on both sides of the ball by December. And go to the AFCCG for the fifth consecutive time.

Until that changes, I just don't believe anything has really changed, much less the trajectory of the Chiefs.

Effing stupid ass article. There are ton of games to go and it's anybody's guess as to who will win it all. Bills won the game but so what? They did last year and then we bounced their ass for the second time. Bills have a lot of pressure on them because this might be it with their current roster before they have to hand Allen the bag. Their cap is horrible next year already and ours won't be and we have 12 picks. We will have money and picks to load up on some vets to help us out. If we meet again and bounce them for a 3rd straight time don't ever tell me they are better ever again.

back to back regular season champs

I didn't read all of that

Blah Blah Blah.... KC won't have home field advantage

Miller was a good signing.

Allen is on his second contract too

Allen is already under long-term contract until end of 2028. They are still benefiting from his rookie deal at the moment, but the new money on his deal is $43 million per year. That’s a bargain compared to the likes of Kyler Murray at $46 million per year or an aging Russell Wilson at $49 million per year or an aging Aaron Rodgers at $50 million per year.

However, he is still pretty cheap this year. Bills will join the club with the Chiefs next year.

This