Parity is one of the NFL’s biggest selling points, but the Chiefs are starting to become the counterpoint to that claim.

Kansas City will play its seventh consecutive AFC championship game Sunday as Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs chase the first three-peat in the Super Bowl era. The path this year has been eerily similar to their recent playoff runs, including a battle with Josh Allen and the Bills.

Buffalo will face the Chiefs in the postseason for the fourth time in five years. It has served as one of Kansas City’s biggest foils, despite being 0–3 against the Chiefs in the postseason with Allen under center. But the last two games were decided by one score—including the controversial overtime game in the AFC divisional round in 2022 that influenced a change to the overtime rules in the playoffs.

Despite the ostensibly rinse-and-repeat scenario, the NFL is likely not complaining about this matchup. A battle between the Chiefs—the league’s best viewership draw this year—and their playoff rival all but guarantees massive ratings.

Playoff Pull 

Here are the viewership numbers from their last three postseason battles:

• 2024: 50.4 million (most-watched AFC divisional-round game)
• 2022: 42.7 million (highest in five years for AFC divisional-round game, per Sports Media Watch)
• 2021: 42.3 million (AFC title game)

The AFC championship game in 2021 was the lone matchup that didn’t provide huge viewership numbers, especially considering it was deeper into the postseason than their last two games. But it was also their first duel in this era—so the rivalry had yet to be solidified—and the Chiefs won by 14 points.

The two teams met in the regular season on Nov. 17—the Chiefs’ only loss this year with Mahomes as a starter—and the game drew 31.1 million viewers. That was the most-watched regular-season game of the year, excluding Thanksgiving. 

Questioning the Refs 

A battle with the Bills isn’t the only thing about this Chiefs run that mirrors past years.

Opposing players have questioned whether the referees have given favorable calls to the Chiefs, and it continued after Kansas City’s divisional-round win over the Texans. Mahomes drew two penalty calls on drives in the first and third quarters that led to points. 

“We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game,” Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said after the game. 

Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, whose team was eliminated by the Bills on Sunday, also expressed his disdain for Kansas City on social media.

“I have no reason of saying this other than being a hater. The Bills or whatever NFC team gotta beat the Chiefs. We can’t let them keep getting away with this,” Humphrey tweeted Tuesday.

And it’s not only the players. NFL game analyst Troy Aikman, who called the Texans-Chiefs game for ESPN, called out the refs—and for the league to take action. “I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit,” Aikman said. “They’ve got to address that in the offseason.”

Lions head coach Dan Campbell hasn’t won a Super Bowl—at least not yet. Even without that title, though, Campbell is quickly amassing one of the most extensive coaching trees in the NFL, a prominent sign of the league’s ongoing coaching carousel. 

Earlier this week, the Jets named Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as their new head coach, with the selection coming a little more than 24 hours after the Bears hired Ben Johnson, Detroit’s offensive coordinator, as their head coach. Campbell also just lost defensive line coach Terrell Williams from his staff, as he is joining new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel as that team’s defensive coordinator. 

The departures are hardly a surprise, as it’s long been a custom in NFL hiring circles for rebuilding teams to focus on rising talent from successful ones. To that end, both Glenn and Johnson have been long seen as top head coaching candidates. Lions GM Brad Holmes said Thursday that they’ve been preparing for this scenario and were actually somewhat surprised to be able to retain Johnson and Glenn as long as they did.

Still, it’s rather unusual to have so much coaching talent leave a single organization in such a concentrated window of time. 

“There’s literally nothing else to do but pick yourself up and get back to work,” Holmes said.

The moves are also a testament to the Lions’ dramatic turnaround over the past two years, now reaching the point where many other NFL teams look to Detroit as a near-optimal franchise. That’s even with the team falling short in the NFC championship game last season and being upset by the Commanders last weekend in the divisional playoff round. Johnson was quick to acknowledge that in his introductory press conference in Chicago, an event aimed at establishing him in his new Bears role.

“They’re in our division, and they’re a rival now, but that runway has been built there,” Johnson said of the Lions. “I think they’re going to be a juggernaut. I really do.”

Campbell and Holmes conveyed a similar sentiment, insisting the Lions’ championship window is still wide open, even with the spate of coaching departures. 

“You’ve got your culture, you’ve got your identity, and you’ve got players that fit into that, and we’ve got that,” Campbell said. “We’ve got players in every pivotal position you can ask for to have success, and those guys are made the right way, so absolutely, our window is open.”

On Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed to reporters that its strategy in Europe may involve an independent league similar to what the NBA has built with the Basketball Africa League.

But the next day, Silver spoke at a press conference ahead of a two-game slate in Paris between the Spurs and Pacers and said that nothing is set in stone with a potential league. He said that “everything is still on the table,” including bringing in teams from the EuroLeague.

“The potential to include existing clubs, absolutely, should there be interest. The opportunity to create sustainable competition? Yes. Would we want to have a broad base of countries represented? Absolutely. I mean, that’s the benefit we have now by coming in and looking at this from a blank canvas,” Silver said.

The EuroLeague, which was established in the 1950s, is widely regarded as the second-best basketball league in the world after the NBA. Should the NBA build a league in Europe, it would have to compete directly with the EuroLeague.

IMG, the EuroLeague business arm, agreed to a long-term extension with the league earlier this year. However, according to The Athletic, the extension comes with opt-out clauses for its teams.

Silver did not comment on the deal between IMG and the EuroLeague, simply recognizing the NBA has relationships with both organizations.

“We’ve been partners in the past with the EuroLeague, and are close with many of their clubs, and are appreciative of the effort that’s going into growing basketball throughout Europe,” Silver said.

Exploring Team World vs. Team USA

Silver was also asked about the All-Star Game—which has been tweaked this year from a traditional East vs. West game to a tournament-style format—and whether the league has considered a Team USA vs. Team World game.

The commissioner, who repeatedly mentioned that about 30% of NBA players have international backgrounds, confirmed the league has discussed the potential format. However, Silver said he also wanted to remain respectful of the development that individual countries have made over the years.

“[It may] be a little bit of an old-fashioned concept where we come in as Americans and say we’ll take on the world. I’m not sure how well that would be received by our international players,” Silver said.

However, he left the door open to a Team World vs. Team USA game. “Maybe we will do that one day,” Silver said.