The road to the Super Bowl still runs through Kansas City, but it took a herculean effort by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense to get past the Bills in Sunday's AFC divisional round playoff game. The Chiefs' 42-36 overtime win capped off a memorable weekend that saw all four games come down to the wire. The weekend's first three games were decided on last-second field goals, while the Chiefs needed a 49-yard field goal by Harrison Butker at the end of regulation before winning it in overtime.
Anyone who watched the Bills-Chiefs game quickly realized that they were witnessing an instant classic unfold in real time. The frantic and furious action in the game's final stages merits it a place on the all-time list of greatest playoff games in NFL history. Here's where the game officially stands where compared with the NFL's other all-time playoff games.
The criteria used when determining the list was as follows:
This game, played on Christmas Day, 1971, remains the longest game in NFL history at 82 minutes and 40 seconds. Miami won despite an all-time performance by Chiefs running back Ed Podolak, who amassed 350 total yards and two touchdowns. The Dolphins won the game in the second overtime on Garo Yepremian's 37-yard field goal that was set up by Larry Csonka's 29-yard run through an exhausted Chiefs defense.
"I lost like 18 pounds that day," Csonka said years later. "I lost so much weight that my pants were loose."
