Who is the Buffalo Bills' biggest rival in the AFC?
Bills' 'Animosity' Sees Easy Prediction For Top AFC Rival originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen have grown in stature over the past few years, with the franchise positioning itself to be a genuine Super Bowl contender for the next decade.
Given the Bills under Allen have made the playoffs for the six consecutive seasons, naturally, there was going to be some sort of rivalry built with teams.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, against which the Bills are 2-2 in the regular season and 1-0 in the playoffs, are a good shout, while Allen is 1-2 against the Cincinnati Bengals (0-2 in matchups with Joe Burrow).
But as Sports Illustrated's Matt Verderame writes, there is only one true rival for the Bills, and that is Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Buffalo has won each of the past five AFC East titles, so it’s tough to look inside the division and find a rival," Verderame writes. "However, the Bills have plenty of animosity for the Chiefs, who have knocked them out of the playoffs in four of the past five years.
"Whether it’s quarterback play or overall stature, there’s a terrific argument that over the past half decade, the only team to eclipse Buffalo is Kansas City."
The Bills and Chiefs have developed quite the rivalry, and it is one that is strange at the same time.
Buffalo seems to be able to beat the Chiefs any time in the regular season (4-0 in last four outings), but when it comes to the playoffs, that gets flipped, and Kansas City has beaten the Bills the last four times.
So it is a little wacky, and yes, the teams are on a collision course in 2025 at Highmark Stadium in the regular season as the next chapter of the rivalry gets written.
But like many fans and media personalities alike, we don't care what Buffalo does in the regular season; we only care what Allen and Co. do in the playoffs, and more importantly, do against Patrick Mahomes.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Football
