The Complicated Legacy of the '13 Seconds Game'
There was unbridled joy in Kansas City, and complete devastation in Buffalo — but it only lasted for a week.
I still haven’t re-watched last season’s AFC Championship Game, and I’m not sure I ever will.
But that doesn’t mean I’ve come to grips with what happened.
I immediately compartmentalized the mess that was the Chiefs’ meltdown in the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals and have done everything in my power to kick the can down the road in dealing with it.
The loss was surreal — an absolute stunner at the hands of an inferior team and quarterback. The Chiefs were on the doorstep of a third straight AFC Championship and Super Bowl appearance before seemingly forgetting how to play offensive football just long enough to let the Bengals hang around.
The Bengals didn’t win that game.
The Chiefs lost it.
And the contrast between what we saw in the second half of that game to the week before is stunning.
One of the not-so-subtle reminders of that painful loss to the Bengals is what happened in that stadium a week before, when the Chiefs squared off with the Buffalo Bills in a 2022 AFC Divisional thriller.
The two teams combined to score 25 points in the final 1:54 of regulation. The chaos of blows each offense landed on each other’s defense was capped off in the fourth quarter when Patrick Mahomes got the Chiefs well into field goal range in a masterful two-play, 13-second drive to extend the game to overtime.
The Chiefs were the beneficiary of the coin toss to determine possession at the start of the extra period and capitalized with a touchdown drive.
Unbridled joy in Kansas City, and complete devastation in Buffalo.
The emotional ties to that game are complicated now. That elation can’t be tapped into anymore for some Chiefs fans, including myself. It’s difficult to enjoy what some now consider the greatest NFL game ever played without being reminded of the epic collapse just seven days later: blowing an 18 point lead — at home! — against the Bengals.
Super Bowl titles have great story arcs and defining moments on the long journey to the pinnacle. Before winning Super Bowl LIV, the Chiefs erased a 24-point deficit against the Houston Texans in 2020 and went on a 54-7 run to advance to the AFC Championship.
A week later, they came back from a double-digit deficit against the Titans, fueled by “the run” to advance to the Super Bowl.
I don’t know for sure if the Chiefs would have beat the Rams in last year’s Super Bowl, but I think they would have. The comeback against the Bills was the moment Chiefs fans knew they were going to win it all. The first half against the Bengals cemented that belief.
That made the eventual collapse incredibly painful.
“Thirteen seconds” was supposed to be a positive-memory moment etched in the memories of Chiefs fans forever. Mahomes has normalized a level of quarterback play we’ve never seen before, but he somehow found a way to outdo himself by getting into field goal range in two plays.
For all the amazing things he’s done, Mahomes has continually found ways to exceed expectations. He found a way to do it with zero margin for error and a wildly low probability of pulling it off.
Quarterbacks would give up their throwing arm for a fraction of the defining highlights Mahomes has put together in his short career — and “13 seconds” would trump most of them to date.
The legacy of that game feels tarnished, and it’s a shame. I mean, a nickname came and went between the AFC Divisional Round and the loss to Cincinnati!
Experiencing that performance in real time was incredible. Thinking about it now just reminds of how the season ended: a wasted opportunity for both “Grim Reaper” and Super Bowl Championship merchandise.
The ending of that story is one of the most gut wrenching experiences I’ve had as a fan. The good news: We’ve seen this team climb out of painful endings in the AFC Championship Game. A better ending this year might let the luster of that moment shine the way it deserves.
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I will always remember the Kingdom Bar and Grill was lit after that game.
The 13 second game made it feel like us advancing was fate but then we go and lose to the Bengals the next was absolutely gut wrenching.