The Buffalo Bills lost three games in the regular season by a combined eight points. This was supposed to be the year they ended their Super Bowl curse.
Instead, it is another offseason left wondering what could have been after saving their worst game of the year until last.
There will be no replays of last year’s Bills-Chiefs playoff thriller after Buffalo stumbled to a surprising 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday.
“Better send those refunds,” Burrow said of the tickets sold for the potential neutral venue game between the Bills and Chiefs.
While the turnover-prone Bills suffered a scare last week against the Dolphins, it was widely expected that Buffalo would step up for Monday’s divisional round matchip with Cincinnati.
Instead, a flat start from the Bills defence saw the Bengals race out to a 14-0 lead behind quarterback Joe Burrow and have now booked a date with the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
It will give the Chiefs a shot at revenge after being run down by the Bengals in a 27-24 overtime thriller when the two Super Bowl contenders met in last year’s AFC championship game.
Kansas City though will already be up against it, with superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffering a high ankle sprain in the Chiefs’ 27-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Mahomes will also be facing plenty of pressure from a brutal Cincinnati defence that largely shut Buffalo’s high-power offence down on Monday.
Even more impressive though was the fact the Bengals got the job done in such dominant fashion without their two starting tackles La’el Collins and Jonah Williams while right guard Alex Cappa was also unavailable.
Burrow benefited from the much-improved performance from the offensive line, completing 23 of 36 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Running back Joe Mixon also paced the ground game for the Bengals with 105 yards — nearly three times what Devin Singletary and James Cook managed for the Bills.
The Bengals made a perfect start, carving up the Bills defence with a quick first down after a Ja’Marr Chase reception and Joe Mixon run.
Cincinnati continued to move the ball with ease, even in the frigid conditions, with Joe Burrow scrambling from pressure to find Chase for an early 28-yard touchdown.
It capped off a 79-yard drive to open the game for the Bengals, who took a 7-0 lead after three minutes after kicker Evan McPherson added the extra point.
Cincinnati’s defence then stood up to force Buffalo into a three-and-out, with the Bengals bringing pressure on the pass rush as Josh Allen failed to find Stefon Diggs on third down.
The Bills, on the other hand, just could not find a way to stop Burrow and the Bengals as they marched down the field to score another touchdown and push further ahead 14-0.
For a team without its two starting tackles and one offensive guard, Burrow was picking out open receivers far too easily, on this occasion finding tight end Hayden Hurst for the score.
Allen started to find his rhythm early in the second quarter though as the Bills sped up the offence, getting quick throws out and spreading it to multiple receivers.
Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, Cole Beasley and Khalil Shakir all hauled in passes in Buffalo’s first scoring drive of the game, which ended with Allen muscling it in at the goal line.
Chase almost had his second touchdown of the game on Cincinnati’s next drive, only for the official review to bring the play back after the pass was deemed to be incomplete.
Instead the Bengals were made to settle for a field goal, leaving the score at 17-7 heading into halftime.
Buffalo opened the half with a 14-play drive that showed off Allen’s evasive scrambling ability as the quarterback beat B.J. Hill to find Shakir for a 17-yard gain.
In the end though the Bills could only manage a field goal, later falling further behind as the Bengals punched it in through running back Mixon to go up 24-10.
Buffalo was in desperate need of a big play and almost had it when Allen launched it deep to Davis on a 3rd-and-2, only for Cam Taylor-Britt to break up the play and force a punt.
Another McPherson field extended Cincinnati’s lead beyond two scores and then Mike Hilton forced a fumble from Allen, with Trey Hendrickson diving on the loose ball.
The call was later overturned but Cincinnati’s defence would step up once again to break up an Allen end zone shot and with time running out, Buffalo’s season came to an end while the Bengals’ shot at Super Bowl redemption remained alive.
