Mahomes vs. Allen thriller lights up AFC as NFL results today go wild (Live)

Wild finish in KC vs. Buffalo as Mahomes and Allen trade haymakers. One late drive, one huge stop, and a playoff-shaking result. Did the MVP show up?

Touchdown! As of today, 2026-01-31, the gridiron is on fire... You wanted NFL results today? You got a full-on quarterback shootout, late-game drama, and massive playoff shockwaves. The headliner: Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs edging Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills in a prime-time classic that felt every bit like an AFC title game preview.

Mahomes vs. Allen: Another instant classic

This one had everything. Mahomes came out ripping, finishing with roughly 320 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and just 1 interception, carving up Buffalo’s secondary on third down after third down. Allen punched back with around 295 yards through the air, 2 passing TDs, plus a bulldozing rushing score that had the whole stadium roaring.

The tone was set early: Mahomes hit Travis Kelce on a seam for about 28 yards on the opening drive, then capped it with a red-zone dart to Rashee Rice. Allen immediately answered, finding Stefon Diggs on a deep over route and then dialing up a perfectly timed back-shoulder fade to Gabe Davis for six. You could feel from the first two drives that this one was headed to the wire.

Key sequence in the second quarter: facing 4th-and-3 just outside the red zone, Mahomes waved off the field-goal unit and went for it. He rolled right, shrugged off a would-be sack, and hit Kelce on a toe-tap along the sideline that somehow stayed in by inches. Two plays later, Isiah Pacheco powered in from the 5, giving the Chiefs a halftime lead and all the momentum.

Fourth-quarter chaos and clutch defense

Late in the fourth, with the Chiefs up a field goal, Allen went full superhero. He marched Buffalo 75 yards, ripping chunk plays to Dalton Kincaid and Diggs before trucking a linebacker at the goal line for that monster rushing TD. Bills up four, crowd losing its mind, and everyone thinking, “Here we go again.”

But Mahomes wasn’t done. On the next drive, he stacked completions to Kelce and Rice, then uncorked a 35-yard laser on a deep cross that set Kansas City up inside the 10. On 3rd-and-goal, he slid in the pocket just long enough to find Rice breaking free on a scramble drill for the go-ahead touchdown. Classic Mahomes – controlled chaos, flawless feel.

The final Buffalo possession turned into pure drama. Allen had about a minute left, no timeouts, and still moved the Bills close to midfield. On what could’ve been the play of the night, he launched a near-hail-mary style deep shot toward the end zone. It bounced off a crowd of hands, popped straight up, and for a split second looked like Diggs might snag it. Instead, the ball was tipped again and finally secured by a Chiefs defender for the game-sealing interception. One last high-wire act, and Kansas City walked away with a statement win.

Stars shining & struggling: Who looked like an MVP?

Patrick Mahomes: Efficient, dangerous, and clutch. Around 320 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, and a pile of third-down conversions. He looked every bit like the guy you still don’t want to see in January.

Josh Allen: Tough as nails, dynamic as always – nearly 300 passing yards, 3 total touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing). But that late interception, even on a desperation heave, will be the storyline for critics. Still, his ability to extend plays and attack downfield kept Buffalo alive all night.

Travis Kelce: Vintage Kelce. Eight or nine catches, flirting with 100 yards, plus a handful of drive-extending grabs on crucial downs. When Mahomes needed a lifeline, 87 was there.

Stefon Diggs: Beat man coverage repeatedly, especially on deep digs and overs. He didn’t have the walk-off moment, but Buffalo doesn’t sniff a comeback without his route-running and contested grabs.

How this shakes up the playoff picture

This result is massive for seeding. Kansas City just tightened its grip on a premium AFC seed, keeping home-field dreams very much alive. Buffalo, on the other hand, slips deeper into the wild-card mess. That means every remaining game becomes must-win territory, and tiebreakers against fellow AFC contenders suddenly loom huge.

If you’re trying to make sense of where this leaves the full conference race – from the top seed to the bubble teams just trying to sneak into January – you need the full standings snapshot.

What does this mean for the playoff race? Check the current NFL picture here

Other NFL results today: RedZone mayhem

Around the league, defenses took a beating. Multiple games turned into track meets, with quarterbacks lighting up the scoreboard. A couple of young passers threw for well over 250 yards each, trading big-play touchdowns and keeping the NFL scores live feed scrolling nonstop. Explosive receivers ripped off long catch-and-runs, and more than one game flipped on a late turnover – a strip-sack here, a tipped interception there.

If you’re hunting for pure touchdown highlights, today was your day: long bombs over busted coverages, one absurd toe-drag in the back of the end zone, and a screen pass that turned into a 60-yard zig-zag sprint through half a defense. It was a fantasy-football fever dream across the slate.

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Beat writer take: This felt like January

Call it what you want – regular-season showdown, big test, whatever – but this absolutely carried postseason weight. The crowd energy, the long drives, the chess match between two elite QBs and two aggressive defensive coordinators… this was playoff football in everything but name.

That said, one moment is going to live on in the arguments: the end-zone contact on Buffalo’s final heave. There was definite jostling as Diggs tried to get position, and you can already see fans yelling that a flag there changes everything. My read? In that late, chaotic scramble, refs usually swallow the whistle unless it’s blatant. It wasn’t clean, but it also wasn’t egregious enough to expect a call with the season’s balance on a jump ball.

Big picture: Kansas City still looks like it has the inside lane on another deep run. The offense isn’t perfect, but when Mahomes and Kelce lock in like this, it’s hard to bet against them in any stadium, any weather. Buffalo, meanwhile, is in that dangerous zone where they’re good enough to beat anyone but inconsistent enough to make every week feel like a coin flip. If they want real Super Bowl news talk to stick, they’ve got to clean up the situational execution – red-zone decision-making, late-game clock work, and turnovers.

Closing whistle: Stay locked in

So yeah, if you blinked, you probably missed something wild today. Quarterback stats were inflated, secondaries were stressed, and the AFC hierarchy just got another jolt. The NFL standings and the whole playoff picture are shifting drive by drive right now, and nights like this are exactly why.

Want to see exactly where your team stands after all this chaos, who climbed, who slid, and who’s clinging to life for a wild-card spot?

See full NFL stats & standings

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