NFL writer says Bills franchise hasn't recovered from '13 seconds' loss to Chiefs
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bills' 13-seconds loss at Arrowhead shaped franchise trajectory and culture.
- Sean McDermott's postgame decisions and staff dynamics amplified fallout.
- Owners moved on, blaming Mahomes' AFC dominance and stalled progress.
If you’re a Chiefs fan looking for something fun to do this weekend as Kansas City turns into Siberia, here’s an idea:
Watch one or more of your favorite Chiefs postseason games in the Patrick Mahomes Era.
You can choose from three Super Bowl championship contests; the offensive flex in their wild 51-31 win over the Texans in an AFC Divisional playoff game; the AFC Championship Game win over the Bengals ... and one that took place four years ago Friday.
That was the “13 seconds” win over the Buffalo Bills.
I would argue the latter stands as the most memorable postseason game in Chiefs history. And for all the wild and crazy stuff we’ve seen in the playoffs this month, there’s not another postseason contest that matches the Chiefs’ 42-36 overtime win over the Bills.
Buffalo has yet to make the Super Bowl in the Josh Allen Era, and that’s why the Bills fired coach Sean McDermott this week (and followed up with that infamous news conference).
Tyler Dunne, the founder of the “Go Long” website, believes the Bills’ loss to the Chiefs in the “13 seconds” game scarred Buffalo’s franchise.
“A lot of fans, I don’t know what the percentage would be, didn’t think that Sean McDermott should have been fired. Let’s not lose the plot here everyone,” Dunne said on The Colin Cowherd podcast. “That game, that ‘13 seconds’ game at Arrowhead, that moment did a lot of damage. ‘Thirteen seconds’ broke the psychology of the Bills.
“He (McDermott) overruled the special teams coordinator, Heath Farwell, who wanted a squib kick. McDermott said touchback. They gave up the field goal. They get into overtime, they get rolled over, they get inside the locker room. And I had a coach tell me that even in that moment, Sean McDermott said something like, ‘The offense left too much time on the field.’ What, 13 seconds? And then the next thing is kind of looking at his assistant coaches and saying, ‘You guys need to figure out what went wrong here.’ And that was it, into the offseason.
“So if you could rewrite history, that would have been a moment to move on to a new coach right then. Upgrade while you’re on the rise, after ‘13 seconds.’”
In Mahomes’ shadow
While not mentioning that particular game, the Athletic’s Michael Silver wrote a column this week with this headline: “Why did the Bills and Ravens make coaching changes? Blame it on Mahomes.”
Silver contends the Bills fired McDermott and Ravens got rid of John Harbaugh because of Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“Both owners got tired of waiting. And, significantly, they got tired of living in the shadow of Patrick Mahomes,” Silver wrote.
“Mahomes, who has been to five Super Bowls and won three since becoming the Kansas City Chiefs’ starter in 2018, wasn’t around to torment his AFC rivals this January. A torn ACL, amid a lost season, ended that possibility a month ago.
“Yet even as he rehabs and plots his comeback, Mahomes looms large over the AFC. Because of his absence, there was a perception that (Ravens QB Lamar) Jackson and Allen could finally have a clear path to playing for a Lombardi Trophy.
“It turned out to be a dead end.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2026 at 10:00 AM with the headline "NFL writer says Bills franchise hasn't recovered from '13 seconds' loss to Chiefs."
