The NFL’s stupid overtime rules prevented an all-time great playoff game from being even better

The Bills lost without touching the ball in overtime. Everyone still hates the NFL’s OT rules.

It’s easy to be prone to hyperbole after watching something as thrilling as the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the second round of the AFC playoffs on Sunday night. The game had great players making incredible plays one after another, punctuated by a ridiculous fourth quarter that featured three touchdowns and one game-tying field goal as time expired in the final two minutes of regulation alone. For my money, this may have been the most exciting NFL playoff game in the modern history of the sport. It really was that captivating.

But here’s the thing: it should have been even better. Unfortunately, the league’s foolish overtime rules left a sour aftertaste for what should have been the ultimate showcase of the NFL’s supremacy.

The Chiefs’ 42-36 win over the Bills happened for many reasons, most notably because of the incredible play of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill. Still, it’s also fair to say that the most important moment in an all-time great game was the coin flip. Seriously.

The Bills called tails as the game went to overtime, but the coin landed on heads. Josh Allen and the unstoppable Bills’ offense never got a chance to touch the ball because of it.

If the team with the first possession of overtime scores a touchdown, the game is over. That’s what happened when Mahomes found Kelce for a walk-off strike inside the red zone.

It was such an unsatisfying ending to the game because the final two minutes of regulation left almost no doubt the team that won the coin toss was going to win the game. That’s how excellent both Allen’s Bills and Mahomes’ Chiefs were offensively.

Buffalo’s offense was lights out down the stretch, scoring touchdowns on three of their final four possessions. Each of those TDs went to 22-year-old wide receiver Gabriel Davis, who scored six touchdowns all season before catching four touchdowns on Sunday night.

The Allen-to-Davis connection was electric. Just watch this fantastic fourth down hook up that put the Bills ahead with under two minutes left.

The Chiefs immediately answered with a touchdown.

Then the Bills answered with a touchdown.

Kansas City was down three points with 13 seconds left, but of course Mahomes led his team down the field for the game-tying field goal. It was that kind of night.

It felt like Allen and Mahomes could have kept throwing lasers forever, but the rules wouldn’t let it happen. The NFL still abides by sudden death when the team with the first possession of OT scores a touchdown.

Of course, if the Bills wanted a chance to tie or win the game, all they needed to do was get a stop. Football is a sport of three phases, and a dominant Buffalo defense crumbled against the Chiefs’ amazing offense in the biggest moment of the season. That’s missing the point, though. In a game like this one, Allen and Buffalo deserved a chance to answer with a TD of their own. The rules wouldn’t allow it.

Our own resident genius and Chiefs fan Jon Bois put it best:

No, this isn’t the first time a playoff game has ended on a first possession touchdown. The Broncos beat the Steelers in 2011 on a walk-off 80-yard strike from Tim Tebow to Demaryius Thomas. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers never touched the football when the Seahawks scored a TD on their opening drive of OT in the 2014 NFC title game. The Falcons lost the Super Bowl LI without a possession when the Patriots scored on their first drive of overtime.

All of these games were fantastic, but leave fans feeling like they could have been different if the coin flip wasn’t so important.

There’s a legitimate argument that Chiefs-Bills was as good as sports can get, but any objective party agrees it could have been better. Josh Allen should have gotten another chance. It’s the least the NFL could do.