SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, January 24, 1994
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Bills head to fourth Super Bowl
John Cottose, Lake Quivira junior, and Daron Sinkler, Shawnee senior, cheer as the Kansas City Chiefs score during the play-off game against Buffalo. Cottose and Sinkler and about eight friends, all employees of Free State Brewery, gathered on their front porch at 818 Kentucky to watch the Chicks yesterday.
Doug Hesse / KANSAN
Buffalo wins AFC,beats Chiefs 30-13
The Associated Press
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Sorry,
America, the Bills are back and Joe's
not.
The Buffalo Bills advanced to an unprecedented fourth consecutive Super Bowl on Sunday, beating Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs 30-13.
What much of the nation outside of western New York feared — the only team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls, heading to Atlanta to try again
— came true because running back
Thurman Thomas was unstoppable
"All you can ask in life is to have an opportunity," All-Pro defensive end Bruce Smith said. "We have an opportunity, and we're going to take advantage of it."
Added quarterback Jim Kelly, "I think nearing the end of the week, more people were turning toward us and saying, 'You guys have accomplished a lot and if you guys get there, we'll be pulling for you.' We don't have to prove anything to anybody. We're champions in our own mind."
The Chiefs, who lost in their first championship game since the 1969 season, and Montana, 4-0 in Super Bowls, were kept off-balance by Buffalo's aggressive defense, led by Smith and linebacker Darryl Talley.
The Bills knocked Montana from the game early in the third quarter, while Kansas City's defense kept groping at Thomas, who rushed for 186 yards — 131 by halftime — and three touchdowns.
"We believed in ourselves and the organization," Thomas said. "We hung together as a team.
"Going into the Super Bowl, we know what it takes. We know the mistakes we can eliminate. You have to rank this right up there with when we beat the Raiders in 1990. For this one, a lot of people didn't want us back. But our job is not done yet."
This was the same Thomas who rushed for only 44 yards on Nov. 28, when the Chiefs battered the Bills 23-17.
7. The NFL's combined yardage leader when the Bills won the AFC title in 1990, '91 and '92, Thomas went over 1,000 yards rushing in playoff competition with his biggest playoff output and second most of his career.
Buffalo, which lost the last three Super Bowls by a combined score of 109-60, has won its four AFC titles by an aggregate 120-33. The Bills will face Dallas, which won the 1993 Super Bowl 52-17.
"We might have fallen to defeat the last three," Kelly said, "but that doesn't mean a thing. To the people who didn't want us, sorry."
Montana struggled throughout the first half, at one point hitting just three of 14 passes. He was sidelined when hit by three Bills on the third
"My head hurt, everything went white for a couple of seconds," Montana said.
"Joe suffered a mild concussion and really wasn't functional to come back and play," Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer added.
The 37-year-old veteran left the game dazed, the same feeling the Chiefs defense must have had attempting to deal with Thomas. Montana finished 9-for-23 for 125 yards.
Dave Krieg, Montana's replacement, took the Chiefs 90 yards in 14 plays, including a fourth-down, 19-
yard pass to Keith Cash. Marcus Allen scored from the 1, making it 20-13.
The Bills, showing their championship form — no other team has won four consecutive AFC, NFC or NFL crowns — answered immediately. Thomas had an 11-yard run and a 15-yard reception in a 79-yard drive that stalled inside the 1. Steve Christie kicked an 18-yard field goal with 11:55 to go.
Thomas got his third touchdown with a 3-yard run with 5:30 remaining, then was mobbed by his teammates as he carried the ball with him to the bench.
Although Thomas and the Bills dominated the first half, the Chiefs should have been within 20-13 at halftime. Montana, finally finding his receivers,
Instead of being within seven points, the Chiefs headed into the locker room wondering if anything would go right. Not enough did.
took them 75 yards in six plays, including a 31-yard completion to Todd McNair, who broke three tackles in getting to the 5. Montana then hit Kimble Anders at the goal line, but the ball deflected off Anders' hands to Bills safety Henry Jones.
With temperatures in the low 30s and a light rain falling, the weather was not a factor. No Ice Bowl, as in Buffalo's victory over the Los Angeles
"You know that football team has taken a lot of heat from a lot of people," Schottenheimer said. "They're a hell of a football team ... my hat is off to them."
Raiders last week, when a wind-chill of minus-32 made it the coldest game in Bills history.
There also was no sign of the Kansas City defense that ravaged Houston for nine sacks in a 28-20 win last Sunday. Instead, the Chiefs' weak performance gave Schottenheimer his third loss in as many AFC championship games; the other two came while coaching Cleveland.
Allen, who joined the Chiefs as a free agent and gained 1,002 yards overall, had just 50 yards rushing and 36 yards receiving and scored Kansas City's only touchdown.
Krieg was 16-for-29 for 198 yards and one interception.
Buffalo got moving on its third possession, covering 47 yards in six plays, including a perfect pass from Kelly to Andre Reed down the left sideline for 28 yards. Thomas scored on a 12-yard run up the middle behind center Kent Hull's crushing block.
Inspired by their defense, the Bills offense kept pounding away. Thomas broke a 33-yard run to the Kansas City 26 and his understudy, Ken Davis, went for 15 on the next play. On third- and 2 from the 3, Thomas romped into the end zone untouched after a great block by Pete Metzelaars.
The Chiefs, AFC West champions for the first time in 22 years, responded with two 31-yard field goals by Nick Lowery, the NFL's career kicking percentage leader. The first climaxed a 51-yard drive on which Allen had a 24-yard run. The second came five plays after Russell Copeland fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Buffalo 24. Fred Jones recovered, but the Chiefs got only to the 13.
Thomas, who joined Franco Harris, Tony Dorsett and Allen as the only players with more than 1,000 yards rushing in postseason games, continued to dominate on the next drive. He accounted for 28 of the 41 yards on the series, and Christie made a 23-yard field goal for a 17-6 edge.
Christie added a 25-yard moments later after the Bills again stopped the Chiefs. Montana misfired with Keith Cash wide open on third down, then Thomas carried for 31 yards in a 56-yard drive.
"There's one more river to cross," Kelly said. "There's no pressure on us, nobody expected us to be here, and we're back."
Students rally around the Chiefs
Kansan staff writer
By Cheryl Cadue
Andrew Wiksten, Topeka junior, said he had been a Kansas City Chiefs fan for five years but did not mind fairweather fans who joined him in rooting for his favorite team.
"They watch the games and cheer just like everyone else, and they know they're not real Chiefs fans," Wiksten said. "Besides, nobody wants to see the Bills go to the Super Bowl again."
Tom Leininger/ KANSAN
While many people said they watched the game because of the Chiefs, others watched because they wanted to see a football game.
Jaime Chow, Taipei, Taiwan freshman, hangs his head back in despair while in Templin Hall after seeing the Clients loss to 10 points late in the game.
"I'm a big football fan, not a Chiefs fan," said Carl Goldsmith, Glencow, ill., senior. "I'm just here to watch the game and have a good time."
Madio Lee, Kansas City, Kan, freshman, said he watched the Chiefs game because he liked football, and he thought the publicity would be good for Kansas City.
bandwagon," Lee said. "If the Chiefs don't get there next year, those people won't care."
"A lot of people are just riding the
Sunti Wathanacharoen, Leawood junior, said he had wanted Kansas City to show San Francisco what they lost when they traded Montana to the Chiefs.
"I've been a Kansas City Chiefs fan all my life." Wathanacharoen said. "I'm from Kansas City, and it's our team."
Zoltan Dobolyi, Vasteras, Sweden,
freshman, said he watched every
Chiefs game even though he did not
know all the rules for football.
"Montana is a legend. I heard about him last year in Sweden and was very excited when I learned he played just down the road," Dobolyi said.
Nick Jacobson, Wichita sophomore,
said he woke up for the 11:30 a.m.
kickoff just to watch the Chiefs play,
while his roommates slent.
"I want the Chiefs to win, but I'll be for the Dallas Cowboys if they lose," Jacobson said.
Eric Myers, Boulder, Colo., senior said he had been waiting for the Dallas and San Francisco game.
"I'm not much of a Chiefs fan," he said. "Everyone is cheering for the Chiefs, and it's getting on my nerves."
By Liz Chadwick Kansan staff writer
It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon for the first time in weeks after an unrelenting cold spell in Lawrence, but the mood was dark in Kaspar's bar, 3115 W. Sixth St., where the remaining disappointed Chiefs fans gathered to watch their team lose.
However, all was not bleak yesterday. Unbelievable as it may have seemed to the fans in the sports bar, many Lawrence residents were having a wonderful day shopping and seeing movies.
Things were jumping at Community Mercantile. 901 Mississippi St.
Yesterday was the first day of a week-long celebration of the anniversary of Kansas statehood at the store.
Nancy O'Connor, nutrition educator for Community Mercantile, stood behind a table handing out samples of locally made food. She laughed when asked about the timing of the kick-off the festivities at the Mercantile with the Chief's game.
"We weren't thinking about the Chief's game when we were planning this," she said. "The actual birthday of Kansas statehood is January 29, 1861, and we wanted to start a week early. But, when we realized the game was happening, we decided to go ahead, sacrilegious as that may sound. We've had a fair number of people here today."
Women, it seemed, were especially immune to Chiefs fever.
Outside Hillcrest Theaters at 1:30 p.m., 25-30 people cued up to buy tickets to the first matinee. All but three of them were women.
Neal Ballard, a teacher at Hillcrest School, was waiting to purchase tickets for the film "Philadelphia" with three women friends.
"I'm a Chiefs fan, but it's not the most important thing in my life," he said. "Besides, they're getting their tails beat."
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