The Bills took a 36-33 lead over the Chiefs with 13 seconds left in Sunday’s divisional round playoff game in Kansas City, but that proved to be enough time for the Chiefs to tie the game.
After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, quarterback Patrick Mahomes hit back-to-back passes to wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce to pick up 44 yards and set up Harrison Butker‘s kick. The Chiefs would win on a touchdown pass to Kelce in overtime.
People outside the organization have suggested the Bills should have forced the Chiefs to burn some time while fielding the kickoff and taken issue with the defensive calls that the Bills had on the two completions at the end of regulation. Bills head coach Sean McDermott said it was disappointing because “we pride ourselves on being detailed” in situations like that, but refused to discuss any of the details he wanted to see handled differently.
“I’m still going to get into specifics on that. It comes down to execution. We didn’t execute,” McDermott said.
Execution suggests issues with on-field performance rather than the calls that were coming from the sideline, but the avoidance of specificity leaves some questions unanswered.McDermott wouldn’t budge from that view when asked about miscommunication possibly being a factor during that stretch.
He did say that the Bills will not “run from it” and will learn from how things played out against the Chiefs. With the next season starting in September, it will be quite some time before anyone will see the results of that effort.