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Mahomes leads the NFL with 21 total touchdowns. Allen is tied for fourth with 17.
Week 9 brings the 10th round of the football version of a heavyweight bout between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Mahomes’ 5-4 head-to-head record looks modest at first glance, but it paints an incomplete picture of how lopsided this matchup of the league’s best quarterbacks has been. Allen is 4-1 in the regular season against Mahomes. Mahomes is 4-0 in the important season against Allen.
The Bills have been one of the league’s best teams since drafting Allen in 2018. The Chiefs have just been better since making Mahomes their starter the same season. An oft-remembered fact: the Chiefs acquired the pick they used on Mahomes in a draft day trade with the Bills, the season before Buffalo drafted Allen.
The Bills and Chiefs have made the playoffs every season over that span. The Bills have seven playoff wins. The Chiefs have played in seven AFC Championship games (and five Super Bowls). Allen has the second-most wins, pass touchdowns, total yards, and total touchdowns since he entered the NFL…all just behind Mahomes.
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Since the 2020 postseason, we’ve seen this major motion picture eight times. The Bills have won all four regular season games. The Chiefs have won all four playoff games (Buffalo is 7-1 against everyone else over that span).
In the archives of NFL postseason history, there’s only one quarterback duel we’ve seen more than Mahomes v. Allen: first-ballot Hall of Famer Peyton Manning against future first-ballot Hall of Famer Tom Brady, who met five times. There’s one stark difference. Manning got the best of Brady 3-2, whereas Mahomes holds a decisive 4-0 mark against Allen—already the most playoff wins by one quarterback over another.
The regular season has clearly favored Allen. He has the second-highest regular season win percentage (.800) against an opposing quarterback (Mahomes) who he has yet to beat in the playoffs (behind Billy Kilmer, who was 6-1 against Fran Tarkenton in the regular season but 0-2 when it mattered most).
The blame for the Bills’ postseason woes against the Chiefs shouldn’t fall fully on Allen’s shoulders. The Bills defense has allowed 19.5 points per game in four straight regular season wins against Kansas City. They’ve allowed 34.8 points per game in four straight playoff losses. The Chiefs have eliminated the Bills in four of the last five postseasons.