The Buffalo Bills remain alive in the AFC playoffs, and they’ve got a short week to get ready for another postseason battle against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bills beat the Steelers 31-17 today in Buffalo, in a game delayed a day by a blizzard, and will now get to face the Chiefs team that knocked them out of the playoffs after both the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Today’s win looked like it would be a blowout, but turned out to be hard-fought. The Bills had a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter, but by the fourth quarter the Steelers had cut the lead to 24-17. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter, when Buffalo’s Khalil Shakir caught a short pass, broke Minkah Fitzpatrick’s tackle, made a couple of nifty moves, and raced to the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, that the Bills had the game in hand.
Buffalo’s already thin defense suffered more injuries today, and with a short work week they need to get healthy in a hurry before facing Patrick Mahomes. The Bills will be playing at home and have to like their chances at the Chiefs, but it’s not going to be easy with a depleted defense.
For the Steelers, it’s a disappointing end to a season that has led to increasing questions about whether Mike Tomlin is the coach to get them over the hump. Tomlin made some game-management decisions today, including failing to use his timeouts to force a Bills punt at the end of the first half, and failing to go for two when he should have in the fourth quarter. The questions about Tomlin aren’t going away.
But today was mostly about the Bills, who showed they could take care of business when they needed to, and will now get ready to meet the Chiefs.
