History awaits the Kansas City Chiefs.
Stand in their way? The mighty Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs, looking to become the first NFL franchise to win three consecutive Super Bowls, returned to the league’s biggest stage Sunday with a 32-29 victory over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game .
Patrick Mahomes ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third. Harrison Butker made a 35-yard field goal with 3 minutes, 33 seconds left to put the Chiefs away for good.
That’s when the Kansas City defense took over, applying heavy pressure to Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, whose backpedaling heave on fourth-and-4 fell through the arms of diving tight end Dalton Kincaid on the ensuing possession.
Learn more: Saquon Barkley and Eagles dominate Commanders to advance to Super Bowl Lix
From there, the Chiefs were able to run out the clock.
In two weeks, Kansas City will face Philadelphia, which comprehensively defeated NFC East rival Washington Commanders earlier Sunday in the NFC title game.
So New Orleans will host a rematch of the Super Bowl two years ago, when the Chiefs beat the Eagles, 38-35.
In that game, Mahomes threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes as Kansas City overcame a 10-point halftime deficit.
The rematch also sets up a potential three-peat for Chiefs coach and former Eagles coach Andy Reid. In fact, he is the winningest coach in the NFL in Kansas City and Philadelphia.
The Eagles crushed the Commanders 55-23 to win for the 15th time in 16 games since starting the season 2-2. As usual, they were led by 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley, who contributed three touchdown runs, including a 60-yarder.
By beating the Bills, the Chiefs have already made NFL history. Of the previous eight teams to win consecutive Super Bowls, three reached the conference championship game but lost. The Chiefs are the first back-to-back winners to return for a third trip.
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It was the seventh straight conference championship appearance for the Chiefs, just behind the eight straight achieved by the New England Patriots during the glory days of quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick.
With the victory, which came on a clear evening at Arrowhead Stadium, the Mahomes-led Chiefs improved to 4-0 in the playoffs against Allen and the Bills. It was especially confounding for Buffalo, who had four regular-season wins over these Chiefs.
The Bills had a chance to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1993 season, when they lost their fourth of four consecutive appearances.
Learn more: Super Bowl Lix: Start time, teams, how to watch and halftime show
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.