Josh Allen leads Buffalo Bills to 31-20 win over Kansas City Chiefs that ends Patrick Mahomes team’s unbeaten start to NFL season

Josh Allen has run for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down with 2:17 left, sealing the Buffalo Bills’ 30-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs and handing the two-time defending Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season.

James Cook rushed for two touchdowns and Allen threw a 12-yard TD pass to Curtis Samuel for Buffalo (9-2), who closed the gap on Kansas City (9-1) in the race for the AFC’s top seed.

Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs were the NFL’s last undefeated team and finally ran out of ways to eke out one-score victories and overcome second-half deficits. The Chiefs had won 15 straight, including playoffs, since they fell 20-14 to the Las Vegas Raiders on December 17, 2023.

The Bills have won six straight and moved closer to their sixth straight AFC East title.

Buffalo have defeated the Chiefs in four straight regular-season meetings, though Kansas City hold the post-season edge, having won the past three match-ups dating to 2020.

Bills coach Sean McDermott opted to go for it on fourth-and-two instead of kicking a field goal for a five-point lead. Allen faked a pass to his left and then broke up the middle, where he bounced off two Chiefs defenders before crossing the goal line.

Allen finished 27 of 40 for 262 yards with the TDs passing and rushing and an interception.

The rushing touchdown was the 58th of his career, moving him into second on the Bills list, one ahead of O.J. Simpson, and seven behind Thurman Thomas. Allen’s two-touchdown outing also increased his total to 244, tying Jim Kelly for first in team history.

Mahomes finished 23 of 33 for 196 yards with three touchdown passes — two to tight end Noah Gray and another to Xavier Worthy — and two interceptions.

The teams traded leads four times in the first half. Cook scored twice before halftime and Buffalo took a 16-14 advantage into the break, one they never relinquished, after Tyler Bass closed the second quarter by hitting a 33-yard field goal.

The Bills went ahead 23-14 a little over two minutes into the fourth quarter when Allen capped a 10-play, 83-yard drive with a short pass to Samuel, who sidestepped a defender and raced into the end zone.

Mahomes responded by marching the Chiefs on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a one-yard TD catch by Gray with 7:53 left.

Elsewhere, Jared Goff threw four touchdown passes and Detroit routed Jacksonville 52-6.

The NFC-leading Lions (9-1) have won eight straight and nine of their first 10 games in a season for the first time since 1934.

Detroit’s winning margin of 46 points was the largest in franchise history, and it handed the Jaguars (2-9) their biggest-ever defeat.

There were also home wins for Miami, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Denver, while Green Bay, the Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis, Minnesota and Seattle triumphed on their travels.

With AAP.