Breaking down Josh Allen's career playoff record

*Editor's note: This article was originally written before the Bills lost to the Chiefs in the divisional round. His record in playoff games is now 5-5.

The Buffalo Bills welcome in the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend and Josh Allen has a chance to improve his playoff record or drop back down to .500 for his playoff career. Allen and the Bills still haven't made a Super Bowl during his tenure and the furthest they've gotten has been the AFC Championship Game, which they did in the 2020 season.

For the most part though, the Bills have ended up sputtering and not making as deep of playoff runs as fans were hoping or expecting. Hopefully, this year is different. It feels different, after all, as at one point, the Bills were 6-6 and a playoff spot didn't seem likely. The Bills fought back, won their division, and are the two-seed in the AFC playoffs. This is their time to finally reach a Super Bowl.

What is Josh Allen's playoff record?

Heading into the divisional round against the Chiefs, Josh Allen is 5-4 in the playoffs for his career. His first-ever playoff start came against the Texans in 2020 (2019 season) where the Bills lost a close one by a score of 22-19. Allen threw for 264 yards and ran for another 92 yards on the ground in that loss.

Allen's first playoff win came the following year when he and his Bills squad narrowly beat the Colts 27-24. They blewout the Ravens the next week and that set up for a rivalry we'd all grow to be quite familiar with, as the Bills headed to Kansas City for the AFC Championship Game. They got beat pretty handily in that game, with the Chiefs winning 38-24 and advancing to the Super Bowl.

The next year, the Bills destroyed the division rival Patriots in the wild card round and that set the script for another showdown in Kansas City. The Bills had this victory in their grasps but the defense couldn't stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense despite there only being 13 seconds on the clock. The Bills lost the coin toss and that also meant they lost their game, as Mahomes stormed right down the field and that was that.

Last year's playoff seeding had a complicated situation due to Damar Hamlin collapsing on the field in a regular-season game. This meant that the Bills and Bengals only played 16 games so the Chiefs ended up getting the 1-seed but if the Bills beat the Bengals in the divisional round, this game would have been played at a neutral site.

While the Bills got to the divisional round by beating the Dolphins, they got their butts whooped by the Bengals. Allen played poorly in the loss, throwing for 264 yards and one interception and only rushing for 26 yards. It was another "what could have been" moment for the Bills during Allen's tenure. That loss also bumped Allen down to 4-4 for his playoff career.

The most recent victory against the Steelers in the wild-card round got Josh Allen back above the .500 mark and he has a chance to move to 6-4 if he and his Bills squad can handle the Chiefs this weekend. It'll be Mahomes' first-ever road playoff game so let's see if Allen and company can get their first win against KC in the playoffs to advance to the AFC title game.