Over the past five years, the Bills and Chiefs have become the NFL's premier rivalry, albeit a one-sided one. For Drew Brees, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and future Hall of Famer, the Bills-Chiefs rivalry reminds him of a legendary rivalry that took place in a different sport 30-plus years ago.
Kansas City's current run is nothing short of historic. The Chiefs are one win from becoming the first team to play in five Super Bowls over a six-year span and two wins from becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. Their success has specifically come at the expense of several teams, including the Bills, who have lost three playoff games to Kansas City since 2020. Brees, however, feels like that the Bills could turn the table on Sunday while mimicking what transpired in the NBA back in the early '90s.
"What Kansas City has accomplished, you respect it so much," Brees said during a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports. "It's unprecedented. At the same time, you've got Josh Allen on on the other side. ... I'll make the Bulls-Pistons comparison. It's trying to get over the hump, trying to get past kind of the big bully. Kansas City's only loss (with Mahomes starting) this year was to the Bills. Now that was in Buffalo ... but you just feel like, man, Buffalo is right there. It's their opportunity."
The Michael Jordan-led Bulls lost three straight playoff series to the "Bad Boy" Pistons, including consecutive years in the conference finals. Chicago finally brought through in 1991, sweeping the Pistons in the conference finals en route to winning their first of six titles over an eight-year span. The catalyst for the Bulls' success was Jordan, who would win MVP honors in each of Chicago's NBA Finals series wins during the 1990s.
How did Chicago flip the script? Along with being a young team on the rise (in contract, the Pitons were getting oder and were in decline), the Bulls started to block out what the Pistons were doing while focusing more on themselves. Instead of reacting to Detroit's physical play with altercations, the Bulls let their play do the talking.
Buffalo could certainly take a page from Chicago's book on Sunday. A considerable part of the Chiefs' success has been their mental control over opponents, who often blame injuries and officiating as the reasons why they were unable to defeat them. The Texans were the latest team to fall under that trap in the divisional round. Their loss was a reminder that, in order to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, you have to play at an almost superhuman level.
Brees understands what it's like to play at that level. During his and the Saints' successful Super Bowl run, Brees' team faced three future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in succession in Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning. Those opponents appeared to bring out the best in Brees, who completed 70.6% of his throws while throwing eight touchdowns and no picks during that run.
Allen faces a similar task now; he shared a field last Sunday night with multiple MVP winner Lamar Jackson and will match wits on Sunday with a three-time Super Bowl MVP in Mahomes. Brees said that each quarterback playing this weekend will need to find a balance between focusing on his job while also being cognizant of what the other offense -- and quarterback --are capable of doing.
"You certainly recognize the fact that your execution needs to be at the highest level," Brees said. "You don't control what happens on the other side of the ball. You're focused on your offense, your execution.
"At the same time, I knew going into those games against a Tom Brady or a Peyton Manning or an Aaron Rodgers or any of those, like, man, I need to be near flawless. That's not pressure, that's responsibility. Like, I need to be near flawless, put everybody in a great position to succeed, recognize how I can help our defense.
"One of the things I could do is possess the ball, because that keeps the other guy off the field. He's trying to do the same thing, right? At the end of the day, you know that those games are going to go the fourth quarter. You know it's going to come down to a drive, a play, whatever it is. And you just sit there and recite that moment over and over again in your mind, so that when the moment does come, it's not too big, and in fact, you've already executed it in your mind so many times as if it's already happened. You've already seen it happen, you've already felt it happen, and now you just you can relax and go play."
Brees' Bulls-Pistons comparison was a good one, but there are examples in the NFL of teams finally getting over the hump against a specific opponent. John Madden's Raiders lost consecutive AFC title games to the Steelers before dethroning Pittsburgh in a conference title game. Steve Young's 49ers also lost consecutive conference title games to the Cowboys before getting payback the third time around. Allen and the Bills are hoping to follow suit now.
Brees is looking forward to watching how things play out this weekend. He'll be sharing the experience with Bounty, whom he has partnered up with while joining four-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski.
"You can't have football without wings, and you can't have wings without bounty," Brees said. "That's our battle cry as we go into Super Bowl season. We know that everybody's gonna be getting together with family and loved ones, their fantasy football leagues and watching the big game. They're probably gonna be cooking up some great food -- especially since it's down in New Orleans this year -- and probably having some wings and making some messes. So that's where Bounty comes in handy."
