KANSAS CITY - On the Delta Airlines flight that took me from my connection in Atlanta to Kansas City Saturday night, every seat was equipped with a mini television.

And with perhaps two-thirds of the occupants on that flight hailing from various parts of western New York and on their way to watch their beloved Buffalo Bills take on the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC divisional round playoff game, almost all of those TVs were tuned in to CBS where Cincinnati was playing at Tennessee.

When Bengals kicker Evan McPherson drilled his game-winning 52-yard field goal as time expired, a roar reverberated in the friendly skies somewhere, I would guess, above the Ozarks.

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Cincinnati’s upset of top-seeded Tennessee meant one thing to those Bills fans: A Buffalo victory over the Chiefs meant that the AFC Championship Game would be played at Highmark Stadium.

Alas, it will not happen because the Bills lost one of the most exciting, improbable, and ultimately gut-wrenching games in their history, a 42-36 overtime decision that will leave scars for an awful long time for all my fellow Delta travelers, and everyone else in BillsMafia.

Here are my immediate reactions:

1. The Bills No. 1-ranked defense was horrible

It was bad enough that the Bills missed tackles all over the field all night long, particularly on Tyreek Hill’s 64-yard TD that appeared to give the Chiefs the victory with 1:02 to play in regulation. But to fail the way it did in such spectacular fashion on the last possession of regulation was next-level horrendous.

The Chiefs had 13 seconds starting from their own 25, and somehow, inexplicably, completed two passes of 19 yards to Hill and 25 yards to Travis Kelce - the only two guys you really need to cover - to move the ball to the Bills' 31, and because they had timeouts to use it took only 10 seconds.

Harrison Butker then kicked the tying 49-yard field goal. Just ridiculous. And then of course, the Chiefs won the coin toss to start the overtime, a touchdown wins it, and you know what happened. Patrick Mahomes to Kelce. The No. 1 defense in the league put up no resistance.

The Chiefs finished with 30 first downs, 552 yards, and of course, 42 points. Pretty much as disgraceful a performance as you can imagine in such a big game, and now the season is over.

2. The Bills have a big Patrick Mahomes problem

It’s pretty simple. The Bills are never going to get anywhere until they can beat Mahomes and the Chiefs in the playoffs because they’re going to be standing in the way for the next decade.

This is Tom Brady and New England all over again. Allen is now 1-3 against Mahomes and 0-2 in the playoffs. Sure, the win in October was great, it felt a little soul-cleansing for the Bills after what happened last January.

But this is when the games really count, and the Bills, valiant as they were, didn’t get it done. Again.

I tweeted afterward that this one, at least for me, now takes the place as the worst loss in franchise history, supplanting the Music City Miracle. That was awful, obviously, but it was one bad play. This game featured so many horrible plays and moments, I lost count by the time Kelce caught the winning pass.

Mahomes finished 33 of 44 for 378 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 69 yards and another touchdown. The Bills defense had no answers. I would guess that about 80 percent of the snaps he took he made a play of significance.

He is the new obstacle that right now, is going to block the Bills from ever reaching their goals.

3. Brian Daboll’s play-calling held offense back most of the night

I really didn’t understand what the offensive coordinator - who probably just coached his last game for Buffalo - was doing almost all night.

The Kansas City pass defense is not one of the league’s best, for starters, and then the Chiefs lost star safety Tyrann Mathieu early in the game to a concussion. Yet for some reason, the Bills wide receivers - except Davis - were almost completely unable to take advantage and a lot of that had to do with Daboll’s scheming.

That is, until the fourth quarter when Daboll and Allen combined to put together two of the most electrifying drives you’ll ever see.

The first was a 17-play, 75-yarder with Allen hitting Davis for an 18-yard TD on a fourth-and-13 with 1:54 to go. And then, after the Chiefs regained the lead on Tyreek Hill’s 64-yard catch and run TD with 1:02 to go, Allen needed only six plays to cover 75 yards, hitting Davis for the winning from 19 yards out.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough. How it wasn’t enough is something we can debate all offseason. But the bottom line is this: Stefon Diggs caught three passes for seven yards, Emmanuel Sanders had for 16, Isaiah McKenzie one for three, and Dawson Knox two for nine. If not for Davis catching eight for 201, this would have been a blowout.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills suffer one of most gut-wrenching losses in history in OT to Chiefs