Travis Kelce knows how this works. The Kansas City Chiefs know how this works. While they can celebrate reaching another Super Bowl for one brief moment, the back-to-back defending champions know there is a job to finish.

It is a job no other team in history has been able to finish as the Chiefs seek to lift the Lombardi Trophy for a third straight year.

Kansas City punched their ticket to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday as they held off the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in another epic between the AFC rivals at Arrowhead.

Awaiting them is a date with Saquon Barkley’s Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII in 2022, when Patrick Mahomes out-duelled Jalen Hurts in a 38-35 victory.

“It’s a new feeling right now, but I’m just excited,” said Chiefs tight end Kelce after the game. “I’m happy for the guys that are doing this for the first time, trying to make it everything for them. But I know there’s bigger fish to fry and that’s the Philadelphia Eagles down there in New Orleans.

“We know they’re gonna have a sour taste in their mouth from the last time we played them in the Super Bowl. That being said, we gotta go to work. We gotta go to work and make sure we’re ready to handle it.”

For Bills quarterback Josh Allen, it marked a fourth straight playoff loss against Mahomes as the Bills fell agonisingly short yet again in their bid to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1993 season, which saw them suffer the last of four successive Super Bowl defeats.

Allen’s seven playoff victories are the most by a quarterback never to reach the Super Bowl, with his Bills having now lost to the Chiefs in the Divisional Round twice and the AFC Championship Game twice since 2020.

“It’s not fun. To be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs, and we didn’t do it tonight,” said Allen.

“You can either get it done or you can’t. And we didn’t get it done.”

The game was all-but decided with two minutes remaining when Steve Spagnuolo dialled up a blitz to attack Allen as the Bills went for it on fourth-and-five while trailing 32-29 following Harrison Butker’s field goal. Allen retreated under pressure before somehow catapulting a pass downfield, only to see tight end Dalton Kincaid drop the catch while diving for the ball.

“I’m always nervous whenever the football’s not in my hand, but I have so much trust in that defense,” Mahomes said.

“They’ve done it all year, and I know that’s a great offense that they’re going up against and Josh has made a lot of great plays all night, all season long, but I trust that [Spagnuolo] is going to call the right blitz or call the right coverage and the guys are going to execute the assignment and then whatever happens, happens. I was very happy that it was incomplete and we were able to run the time out after that.”

Buffalo had out-gained their opponents 374 yards to 368 yards on offense, while converting four of six fourth down attempts – which may well have been five were it not for a controversial call to rule Allen short on fourth-and-inches.

Allen finished 22 of 34 for 237 yards and two touchdowns alongside two rushing scores from James Cook.

“[The Chiefs are] a good football team,” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott. “They’ve won two Super Bowls, been to seven straight AFC Championship Games. That’s no excuse.

“This is a good football team. We’ve got to keep working to get over that hump, there is no doubt about it. We’ve won a lot of tough games this year against really good opponents, really good coaches. I’m proud of this football team.”

The win lifted Chiefs head coach Andy Reid to 301 in his career and 28 in the playoffs, the latter leaving him just three away from Bill Belichick’s all-time record of 31.

“We’re not done,” said Reid. “So we’re not done. We’ve got another game against a really good Philadelphia Eagles team. And we’ve got a lot of preparation to go before we have a chance to play them.

“Literally a game of inches today. And we were lucky to be on that side of it where we had the most edges. So that was a positive thing.”

The Chiefs are one of nine teams to have won two Super Bowls in a row in NFL history, but just the first to have reached a third after back-to-back triumphs.

‘We’re motivated like crazy to win the game,” Reid added. “You get caught up in that other stuff, all the hype that goes with it, and then you forget about third and one and detail on either side of the ball. You’ve got to keep everything in perspective.

“And really, when it comes down to it, all the confetti, all that’s great. It’s great. Nothing like doing it with your home fans. But it’s going to come down to a football game. And the team that prepares and makes the least amount of mistakes will come out the victor. So you make sure that you keep your head right and and bear down and, you know, do the right things.”

Mahomes has now guided the Chiefs to the Super Bowl five times since taking over as full-time starting quarterback in 2018, winning Super Bowl MVP on three occasions while amassing a playoff record of 17-3 that leaves him second only to Tom Brady in postseason victories.

“It’s just so hard to get to the Super Bowl and I don’t take it for granted, and to do it again at Arrowhead Stadium was special,” said Mahomes.

“You get that trophy on that stage and you look around here and there’s not an empty seat. It is a special place. And I’m glad that I get to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom and here in Kansas City, because these are moments that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”

The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday February 9, live on Sky Sports NFL and Main Event from 10pm ahead of kickoff at 11.30pm; 17-time Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar headlines the half-time show.