This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Gooood morning, family! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you for rocking with me this morning. I appreciate you.
Bills fans, I’m sorry. I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but man, that was a good game yesterday. Honestly, it’s never not good when the Bills and Chiefs link up in the playoffs.
Things just … always seem to end in the Chiefs’ favor.
That’s what happened again on Sunday. Buffalo had every single chance to win that game. The Bills had a golden opportunity with a fake punt. Failed. The Chiefs fumbled out of the endzone on the next possession. Buffalo couldn’t score from it. The Bills had a chance to tie on the last possession with a field goal. It went wide right.
The Bills just failed over and over and over again to climb that hill. Buffalo couldn’t get over the hump.
RELATED: Five ways the Bills doomed themselves against the Chiefs
The worst part about it is this was the time. Buffalo had every single chance to win this game, as our Robert Zeglinski writes here. Everything lined up for Buffalo.
“The Bills’ loss to the Chiefs was not devastating because it called back to other infamous moments of heartbreak. It was devastating because this was the Bills’ best shot at a Super Bowl, at least for a long while. This was the weakest the Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs have ever been, with the rest of the AFC not being much to write home about, either.
This was it, and the Bills still couldn’t get over the hump. It’s really hard to imagine they ever will.”
Look, man. This is tough to say. But throughout the history of sports, somebody always has to come out on the wrong side of things. There was a Charles Barkley for every Michael Jordan. For every Tom Brady, there’s a Peyton Manning.
Sometimes you might win. But when you run into that guy? It just doesn’t work out, man. Mahomes is that guy. As great as Allen can be, he’s just never been good enough to beat Mahomes when it counts the most.
Bills fans, I know you don’t want to hear it. But it’s true.
It doesn’t always have to be this way. Maybe there’s a move Buffalo can make that will just be so overwhelmingly good it won’t matter who is on the other side. Maybe Sean McDermott (if he’s still there!) can figure something out defensively that just vexes Mahomes and brings some of that regular-season magic to the playoffs. Peyton Manning found a way to beat Brady, right? LeBron James found a way to beat the Warriors once, didn’t he? Maybe it’s possible for Josh Allen here.
Or maybe, just maybe, Buffalo and Josh Allen are destined for second place in the story of Patrick Mahomes. Today, that’s exactly what it feels like.
RELATED: This poor devastated Bills fan is an internet meme now
Let’s not make Brock Purdy into something he isn’t
Folks, I know the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. It’s only natural considering that the QB is the only player who touches the ball each and every play. No position has a more profound impact on the game.
With that being said, the hyperbole over Brock Purdy this weekend after the 49ers win over the Packers was … let’s just call it strange.
I have to be honest with you — Purdy was pretty terrible for most of that game on Saturday. The entire game was just a matchup of flawed QBs, as our Christian D’Andrea wrote. But because of a pedestrian fourth quarter where he completed eight of 12 passes for 68 yards, all the praise goes to the 49ers QB.
Some were calling him Joe Montana. Some took criticism as “hate.” It was just weird — especially considering the work Christian McCaffery and the 49ers defense did late in that game to put the Packers away.
Look, man. I’m not saying Purdy isn’t good. In fact, I’ve told you all he is! But football is a team sport. Everything doesn’t have to be about the quarterback. Especially when the one in question didn’t play a particularly good game.
Tara, the GOAT
With Stanford’s 17th win of the season, head coach Tara VanDerveer got the 1,203rd win of her career pushing her beyond Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins in college basketball history.
It’s been a long time coming for Tara. She’s been doing this for forever, as our Mitchell Northam writes.
“VanDerveer, 70, has been a head coach in women’s college basketball since she was 24 years old. She started her career at Idaho, spent five years at Ohio State, and – aside from taking one season off to coach the 1996 U.S. Olympic team – has been leading Stanford since 1985. She’s led the Cardinal to three national championships, 13 Final Four appearances and 27 regular season Pac-12 titles.”
Whenever you talk about the best coaches to ever do it, make sure you mention VanDerveer’s name.
Quick hits: Jason Kelce steals the show … A classless snowball fight in Buffalo … and more
— Jason Kelce turning up for his brother in the Chiefs’ box is how I aspire to live my life — even if it means becoming a meme. Andrew Joseph has more.
— Bills fans threw snowballs at Mahomes and the Chiefs after taking the L. Y’all are better than that, folks. Here’s more from Caroline Darney.
— Here’s Prince Grimes with one reason each conference finalist can cover the spread in their game.
— The first-round of the NFL draft is almost locked in. Here’s Charles Curtis with more.
— Jim Nantz’ call right before the Bills’ missed field goal attempt is the stuff of nightmares. Here’s Robert Zeglinski with more.
— Here’s the obligatory Taylor Swift content. Looks like she had a blast. Thanks, Caroline.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading this morning. We appreciate you. Here’s to a fantastic week! Have a blast, folks. Let’s talk again tomorrow. Until then, peace.
-Sykes ✌️