The Kansas City Chiefs are headed back to the Super Bowl after winning another play-off classic against the Buffalo Bills.

After Harrison Butker kicked a tie-breaking 35-yard field goal with 3:33 left, the Chiefs' defence came up with a late stop to preserve a 32-29 victory that sealed Kansas City's third consecutive AFC championship.

The Chiefs will now head to New Orleans in two weeks to face the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles and attempt to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.

Buffalo, meanwhile, has its season come to an end at the hands of the Chiefs for the fourth time in five years. The Bills are 0-4 in post-season matchups against Kansas City since 2020.

Patrick Mahomes ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to help extend another remarkable streak for Kansas City. Including the playoffs, the Chiefs have now won 17 straight games decided by one score dating back to last season. They are 12-0 in such games this season.

Mahomes also went an eighth straight game without an interception while completing 18 of 26 passes for 245 yards. Xavier Worthy had the Chiefs' lone touchdown catch and finished with 85 yards on six receptions.

The @Chiefs are the first back-to-back champs in history to make it back to the Super Bowl the following seasonpic.twitter.com/UfQIb9SChJ

— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2025

Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes for Buffalo, the last a 4-yard strike to Curtis Samuel on fourth down that tied the game at 29-29 with 6:15 remaining.

Mahomes marched the Chiefs 51 yards in eight plays on the ensuing possession, capped by Butker's go-ahead kick before Kansas City's defence made its biggest play of the night on the Bills' next series.

Buffalo moved to near midfield by the two-minute warning, but the drive was stopped when tight end Dalton Kincaid couldn't come down with Allen's fourth-down desperation pass under heavy duress.  The Chiefs then closed out the game when Mahomes found Samaje Perine for a 17-yard pass on 3rd-and-9 to allow Kansas City to run out the clock.

The Bills rallied from a 21-10 second-quarter deficit to take a 22-21 lead into the fourth following James Cook's second touchdown run of the game, a 1-yard dive into the end zone on fourth down with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

Cook ended with 85 rushing yards on 14 carries, while Allen went 22 of 34 for 237 yards.

Eagles win NFC with record-setting 55-23 rout of Commanders

The Philadelphia Eagles will be facing the Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years after scoring the most points in a conference championship game since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger in their 55-23 NFC title game rout of the Washington Commanders.

Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts each had three rushing touchdowns to lead Philadelphia to its fifth Super Bowl in franchise history. The Eagles were dealt a 38-35 loss by Kansas City in Super Bowl LVIII to conclude the 2022 season.

Hurts added a touchdown pass to A.J. Brown while completing 20 of 28 attempts for 246 yards without an interception. Barkley rushed 15 times for 118 yards, most of which came on a 60-yard touchdown run on the Eagles' first play from scrimmage.

The sixth-seeded Commanders reached their first NFC championship game since 1991 after posting road wins over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and top-seeded Detroit Lions, but had their unexpected run come to an end largely due to four turnovers that the Eagles converted into 28 points.

Jayden Daniels had a rushing and passing touchdown for Washington, but the first-year quarterback was sacked three times and threw an interception while failing in his bid to make history. Rookie quarterbacks are now 0-6 all-time in conference championship game starts.

The Commanders did take an early 3-0 lead when Zane Gonzalez capped the game's opening drive - an 18-play series that consumed over seven minutes - with a 34-yard field goal.

Philadelphia needed just one play to move ahead, however, as Barkley broke loose and evaded several defenders for his third touchdown run of 60 or more yards this post-season.

Washington had its first of three lost fumbles for the game on the ensuing possession, and the Eagles took advantage with a six-play, 48-yard drive capped by Barkley's 4-yard touchdown run that extended the margin to 14-3 late in the first quarter.

The Commanders answered with another Gonzalez field goal and Daniels' 36-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin to pull within 14-12, but Philadelphia countered with a 12-play drive that Hurts finished with a 1-yard touchdown sneak 1:44 before half-time. The Eagles failed on the subsequent 2-point conversion attempt.

Washington's Jeremy McNichols then fumbled on the ensuing kick-off return, with the Eagles recovering to set up Hurts' 4-yard touchdown pass to Brown that increased the lead to 27-12.

The @Eagles today:

55+ points
200+ rushing yards
200+ net passing yards
7+ rushing TDs
0 turnovers

No other team in NFL history has done all of that in the same game, regular season or postseason. pic.twitter.com/ixPyp7GPgW

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) January 26, 2025

The Commanders got the margin down to 11 points in the third quarter on Daniels' 10-yard touchdown run, followed by a successful 2-point conversion pass, to cut their deficit to 34-23.

Philadelphia dominated the fourth, however, by scoring 21 unanswered points as both Hurts and Barkley recorded their third touchdown runs of the afternoon.