Jan. 23, 1994 – Bills 30, Chiefs 13
Down on the frozen, windswept artificial turf of Rich Stadium, the thoroughly dominated Kansas City Chiefs were whimpering in agony as the Buffalo Bills snowplowed their way to a 30-13 AFC Championship Game victory.
But the Chiefs’ moaning was being drowned out by that of football fans around the country who were screaming “Oh no, not again” when the final gun sounded and the nightmare became a reality: There would be another Super Bowl involving the Bills.
Mike Lupica, the acerbic New York City newspaper columnist with the mother of all attitudes, had called them the “Serial killers of the Super Bowl” when the Bills lost their third straight NFL championship game the previous January in embarrassing fashion to Dallas.
Well, sorry folks, but by methodically shredding Joe Montana and the Chiefs, the Bills punched their ticket to the Georgia Dome for a Super Bowl rematch with the Cowboys, and one fan at frosty Rich summed up the feelings of Bills fans everywhere when he held up a sign that proclaimed: “We’re Back — Deal With it America.”
And that had been the goal all along for Marv Levy’s wonderfully talented but Super Bowl-challenged Bills. Ever since their 52-17, nine-turnover debacle in Super Bowl 27, it had been the Bills’ stated goal to “tick ‘em off and go back again.”
So they did.
“In the end, maybe when they’re reading our last rites, then they’ll put us in the ranks of the all-time best,” linebacker Cornelius Bennett said, referring to Buffalo’s unprecedented fourth straight AFC championship. “We’re still a part of history, regardless.”
The Raiders, Broncos and Dolphins had all failed in preventing Buffalo from reaching the Super Bowl, and now it was a Chiefs team primed to end Buffalo’s AFC reign thanks to the presence of Montana, the 49ers’ Super Bowl legend who had come to Kansas City in 1993 after being forced out of San Francisco by Steve Young.
With Montana, the ultimate winner and big-game performer, motivated to prove the 49ers’ brain trust wrong, there was hope in NFL nation that Kansas City — at a time when people actually liked the Chiefs — had the goods to eliminate the Bills and save the Super Bowl.
Not even close. Thurman Thomas ran wild in rushing for 186 yards and three touchdowns, the yardage total a club record and the second-most in an AFC/AFL championship game.
This performance came as no surprise to Thomas’ teammates. The feisty Thurmantor had been cranky in recent weeks because there had been speculation in the media that he was starting to wear down, that he wasn’t as productive as he had been in the past. His response was typical Thomas.
“Guys use different mechanisms to psyche themselves up,” center Kent Hull said. “Thurman’s one of these guys who needs to be in an ornery mood to be his best. If that’s what it takes, so be it. I hope he’s really ticked off next week.”
The Bills took control of this game early, scoring on four straight possessions in the first half to open a 20-6 lead. Thomas gained 129 of his yards in the first 30 minutes against one of the NFL’s best defenses, the same defense that had held the Bills to 43 yards rushing during a 23-7 November spanking of Buffalo at Kansas City.
And while Thomas was gouging Kansas City, the Buffalo defense was throttling Montana and Marcus Allen. Allen gained just 50 yards while Montana was an uncharacteristic 9 of 23 for 125 yards before Bills’ nose tackle Jeff Wright knocked him woozy and out of the game with a vicious sack just 1:23 into the second half.
“He was going down and I hit him up top,” Wright said. “He whip-lashed his head on the ground. It wasn’t pretty. I immediately knew he was hurt. He let out a groan. I’ve never heard that.”
It was lights out for Montana and lights out for the Chiefs. Afterward, a still groggy Montana paid his tributes. “It’s very difficult to get to the Super Bowl once let alone as many times as these guys have,” he said. “That says a lot about that team. I wish them the best.”
“It was our best game,” said Levy, whose team won its eighth straight playoff game at Rich. “It had nothing to do with peaking. It’s how we got ready this week that mattered. I know we’ve won a lot of games in the ‘90s (58 to date), but we still haven’t won the game we want. I don’t want to diminish the resiliency of this team, though. They’re a tough-minded team and they show it over and over.”
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Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: In a top game at Highmark Stadium, Bills outduel Joe Montana to earn 4th Super Bowl trip
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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