Getty Patrick Mahomes walks off the field after the Kansas City Chiefs lost the AFC Championship game.
Buffalo Bills fans may still be stinging over last week’s heartbreaking loss, but they got at least a small measure of payback during the Kansas City Chiefs’ collapse on Sunday.
Chiefs fans invoked up the infamous ending to last week’s divisional-round game, chanting “13 seconds” after a timeout with 13 seconds remaining in the first half while trying to add to their lead against the Cincinnati Bengals. Unlike last week, when the Chiefs raced down the field in the final 13 seconds to tie the Bills and ultimately win the game in overtime, this 13 seconds did not go the way Kansas City intended.
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Bills Twitter Trolls Chiefs Fans
The Chiefs jumped out to a 21-3 lead over the Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship game before Cincinnati scored a second-quarter touchdown to cut the lead to 11 points. The Chiefs were looking to respond and moved into the red zone, calling a timeout with 13 seconds left in the half. The Arrowhead Stadium fans, noting that the time on the clock matched the remaining time in last week’s game, chanted “13 seconds.” Things fell apart from there.
On the next play, Bengals cornerback Eli Apple was called for pass interference in the endzone, giving the Chiefs the ball on the 1-yard line with nine seconds remaining. Rather than taking the field goal, the Chiefs tried to get into the endzone with a pass to Tyreek Hill, but he was tackled short of the goalline and time expired with no more points for the Chiefs.
What a stop by the @Bengals defense to end the half! #NFLPlayoffs #RuleTheJungle
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS
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The collapse continued from there, with the Bengals eventually taking a 24-21 lead before the Chiefs got a last-second field goal to send the game to overtime. The Chiefs won the coin toss and took the ball, but unlike last week’s game could not score on the opening drive. Patrick Mahomes threw an interception 13 seconds into overtime and the Bengals drove for the game-winning field goal.
Many Bills fans took note of the abrupt change of fortune after the “13 seconds” chant, taking to Twitter to troll Chiefs fans.
ENJOY YOUR 13 SECONDS THIS OFF SEASON CHIEFS
The curse of chanting “13 seconds”?
A lot of people are wondering!
Mahomes Takes Responsibility for Collapse
While Bills fans may sense a bit of karma in the chant from Chiefs fans, Mahomes took a page out of Josh Allen’s postgame playbook and put the blame squarely on himself. The Chiefs quarterback credited the Bengals’ defense for keeping him contained in the second half.
“They just had a spy on me, for the most part, and I’ve usually done a good job getting around that guy, but they had a good game plan,” Mahomes said, via The Athletic. “They were doing a lot of similar stuff in the first half, we were just executing at a higher level. They stayed with it. But I mean, I gotta be better.
“I mean when you’re up 21-3 at one point in the game, you can’t lose it, and I put that on myself.”
But Mahomes said he didn’t regret the deep pass to Hill in overtime that was intercepted, saying he was confident in his speedy receiver.
RING THAT BELL!
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“I would have done it again,” Mahomes said. “Whenever you have a guy like Tyreek running and he has a step on someone, give him a chance to make a play. I’d say like eight times out of 10 he makes that catch. So it didn’t work for us today, but that’s a play I’d go to again if I had the chance.”
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