How special teams woes and a kicker’s struggle mounted in Bills loss to Chiefs: ‘I feel terrible’

Orchard Park, N.Y. — The third playoff meeting between Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills and the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs always seemed destined to come down to one big mistake.

Unfortunately for the Bills, it was their mistake — a missed 44-yard field goal attempt by Tyler Bass with 1:47 to go — that sealed the AFC divisional bout.

“Ultimately, it’s completely on me,” Bass said. “I’ve got to do a better job of getting through to my target. I’ve got to do a better job of playing it a little bit more left when you have a left to right (wind). I’ve been here long enough to know that you have to do that... I feel terrible, you know?”

The missed field goal could have tied the game at 27 points with under two minutes to go and the Chiefs in a near 13-minute scoring drought after a touchdown by Isiah Pacheco had put them up 27-24 early in the fourth quarter.

Instead, another playoff game against the Chiefs ended in heartbreak for the Bills, who lost 27-24.

Bass hit one other field goal in the game, a 27-yarder at the opposite end of the field that gave the Bills an early 3-0 lead to cap their first possession. He cleared three extra points.

Bass finishes the 2023 season — his fourth with the Bills — with an 82.8% field goal percentage but just a 40% one in the postseason. He went 2-of-5 in the Bills’ two playoff games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and then the Chiefs, both at home.

Against the Steelers, Bass hit a 45-yard field goal to extend the Bills’ lead to 24-10, but had a 49-yard attempt blocked and missed a 27-yard attempt wide left.

Despite the high stakes of Sunday night’s attempt, Bass said postgame that he didn’t feel any pressure in the moment. He also added that both the snap and then the hold by injured punter Sam Martin were good.

“It hurts man. It hurts,” Bass said about the season’s ending. “It’s a feeling that I can’t even describe. It’s a tough feeling, but you know, just got to keep your head high.”

The missed field goal wasn’t the only special teams trouble the Bills ran into.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bills head coach Sean McDermott opted for a fake punt with a direct snap to Damar Hamlin when his team was fourth-and-5 at its own 32 yard line and trailing 27-24.

Hamlin came short of the first down marker, picking up only 2 yards and causing a turnover on downs that put the Chiefs in striking position on the Bills’ half of the field.

McDermott said he called the fake because he felt like his defense had been struggling to stop Mahomes and company and he wanted to be “aggressive.” He didn’t keep Allen and the offense on the field in an effort to mix things up and because the team “felt good about the look early in the week.”

Though the Chiefs would not end up scoring that drive — a fumble out the end zone two plays later returned the ball to the Bills on a touchback — the decision could’ve ended in disaster.

Punter Sam Martin, who suffered a hamstring injury against the Steelers, averaged under 40 yards across his two punts in the game.

The Chiefs started their ensuing drives in the second and fourth quarters at their own 35 and 43, respectively, and scored their first touchdown of the game following Martin’s first punt. That drive was just five plays and 65 yards.

McDermott said the team training staff deemed Martin able to kick after a workout and so they decided to start him. The Bills signed veteran punter Matt Haack to their practice squad earlier this week.

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