3 Takeaways from Chiefs' Week 6 Loss vs. Bills

The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills were two of the best teams in the NFL last season, and their AFC Divisional Round matchup turned out to be a classic.

They met again on Sunday in another competitive tilt, but Kansas City didn't end up on top this time.

The Chiefs fell 24-20 to the Bills at Arrowhead Stadium, dropping to 4-2 on the season. Buffalo took the lead for good on Josh Allen's 14-yard touchdown pass to Dawson Knox with one minute and four seconds remaining.

Here are three takeaways from Kansas City's Week 6 loss.

It's always exciting to see the Chiefs and Bills go head-to-head, and that starts with the quarterback play.

Allen has turned into a star in Buffalo, while Patrick Mahomes continues to be one of the best in the league in Kansas City. You can count on both making exciting things happen on a football field in any given week.

In Sunday's meeting of the superstar QBs, though, it was Allen who got the better of Mahomes. Not only did the Bills player throw the game-winning touchdown pass late, but he also finished with three TD passes and no interceptions.

Meanwhile, Mahomes had a pair of touchdown throws, but he also was intercepted twice, the second of which came at the game's most crucial moment.

After the Bills went ahead, the Chiefs took over at their own 30-yard line trailing by four points. Two plays later, Mahomes was picked off by Buffalo's Taron Johnson, which sealed a loss for Kansas City.

"That's a good defense. That's a good player," Mahomes told reporters. "You're at the end of the game, you're trying to press the issue and trying to get some completions because you've got to score a touchdown. But he made a good play when it counted."

There will be plenty more Mahomes vs. Allen clashes to come in the future. And it's a certainty that the Chiefs QB will redeem himself in one (or more) of those.

Kansas City has needed offensive playmakers to step up this season. Tight end Travis Kelce continues to put up big numbers, but the unit could be better if one or two wide receivers start to show consistent production.

JuJu Smith-Schuster proved on Sunday that he's still capable of big games, which is an encouraging thing for the Chiefs' passing attack moving forward.

The 25-year-old recorded five catches for 113 yards and a touchdown, his first of the year. It was also his first 100-yard game in his first season in Kansas City. And as he becomes even more comfortable with Mahomes, more performances like this could occur.

"Honestly, I feel like I've been building that chemistry with him," Smith-Schuster said, per Jordan Foote of Sports Illustrated. "I've seen that with him and Trav and how they work. Every single day, I'm trying to get to that point—we're all trying to get to that point—where the ball is being thrown in the air and he trusts us."

In the past, the USC product has proved he can be a big-time playmaker, even if he wasn't quite as successful the previous few years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But now that he's getting more familiar with the Chiefs' offense, it's possible he'll return to that level.

Sunday's game was the only matchup between the Chiefs and Bills on the regular-season schedule, but nobody would be surprised if they meet again in the playoffs. Especially not the players.

"In my opinion, these are the best two teams in football right now," Kansas City safety Justin Reid told reporters. "When it comes down to the playoffs, we're going to end up seeing each other again. The next time we see them, we are going to have a chip on our shoulder."

If that happens, the Chiefs may have the edge after defeating the Bills in the playoffs each of the past two seasons.

There's still a lot of regular-season football to be played, and anything can happen. But Kansas City and Buffalo are the front-runners in its respective divisions and seemed poised to make it back to the postseason.

And if the two teams collide in January, it will be another enthralling game that could go either way.