Visitor:  Kansas City Chiefs

Home:  Buffalo Bills

Date:  December 22, 1996

 

Scoring:

Team                1          2          3          4          Final

KC                  3          3          3          0             9

BUF                 0          3          3          14          20

 

Visitor playmakers:

RB Marcus Allen, LB Anthony Davis

 

Home playmakers:

DL Bruce Smith, DL Phil Hansen, TE Tony Cline, LB Chris Spielman, WR Quinn Early

 

Network:  NBC (WILX Onondaga/Lansing)

Announcers:  Marv Albert, Paul Maguire, Sam Wyche, Jim Gray

 

Pregame:  Yes

Halftime:  Yes

Postgame:  Yes

Commercials:  No

 

Grade:  Excellent

 

Notes:  The season finale in Buffalo would turn out to be the last regular season game for QB Jim Kelly, considered by many to be the greatest quarterback in team history. With the Bills needing a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the final week of the 1996 season to get into the playoffs, despite battling the flu, Kelly rallied the troops for their eighth trip to the post-season in nine years by leading a comeback 20-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Buffalo and Kansas City entered the game with 9-6 marks, and the Bills and Chiefs were put in a unique playoff situation in the final week of the regular season. The game, in essence, was a playoff, as the winner would advance on into the post-season, while the loser would be eliminated from playoff contention.

The Bills had only missed the playoffs once since 1988, while the Chiefs hadn't missed the playoffs at all in that time frame. However, with their season on the line, Jim Kelly completed 10 of 13 passes for 168 yards in the second half to rally the troops to a win in what turned out to be Kelly's final regular-season game with Buffalo. The game was a battle of field goals through three quarters, as Pete Stoyanovich staked the Chiefs to a 9-3 lead early in the third quarter. However, despite battling a nasty case of the flu, Kelly had enough to rally the troops and break through the Kansas City defense.

Bruce Smith forced Chief quarterback Steve Bono to fumble at the 50, which Phil Hansen recovered, and cut the Kansas City lead to 9-6 with 2:16 left in the third quarter. Then, Kelly engineered a long drive to put the Bills in front 13-9 with 2:37 gone in the fourth, as he hit Tony Cline for a 4-yard touchdown. Then, Chris Spielman picked off Bono at the Buffalo 45, and Kelly capped it off by hitting Quinn Early for a touchdown to give Buffalo a 20-9 win with 4:13 left in the contest.

Thanks Jim!

 

Running time:    2:26  (2 discs)