AFC Championship, 1993: Buffalo 30 Kansas City 13

Game information
Running back Thurman Thomas led the Bills to the 30–13 victory by recording 186 rushing yards, three receptions for 22 yards, and three touchdowns. Buffalo racked up a total of 229 rushing yards against a Chiefs defense that allowed only 39 rushing yards from Houston in the divisional round.

Buffalo scored first on a drive that started on the Kansas City 47-yard line courtesy of Russell Copeland's 13-yard punt return. A few plays later, Andre Reed's 29-yard reception on third and 5 moved the ball to the 13-yard line, setting up Thurman Thomas' 12-yard touchdown run to give them a 7–0 lead. Building on the momentum of a 31-yard kickoff return by John Stephens and a 24-yard run by Marcus Allen, Kansas City responded with a 31-yard field goal by Nick Lowery. Then Kansas City caught a break when Copeland fumbled the ensuing kickoff while being hit by Bennie Thompson, and Fred Jones recovered for the Chiefs on the Bills 24-yard line. This led to Lowery's second field goal to make the score 7–6.

The Bills stormed back with 13 unanswered points. First they drove 80 yards in nine plays, including a 33-yard burst by Thomas and a 15-yard run by Kenneth Davis, to score on Thomas' 3-yard touchdown run. Then a third down sack by Jeff Wright forced a Kansas City punt from deep in their own territory, which Copeland returned 17 yards to the Chiefs 46-yard line. Buffalo subsequently drove to the 5-yard line where Steve Christie made a 23-yard field goal. After a Kansas City punt, a pair of double digit runs by Thomas set up a second Christie field goal to make the score 20–6 with just over two minutes left in the half. The Chiefs responded with a drive to the Buffalo 5-yard line, featuring a 31-yard completion from Joe Montana to running back Todd McNair, but with 21 seconds left before halftime, Montana's pass went through the hands of Kimble Anders and was intercepted by safety Henry Jones.

Montana later suffered a concussion during the third play of the third quarter and left the game, replaced by Dave Krieg. Krieg's first two passes were incomplete, resulting in a punt that Copeland returned 26 yards into KC territory, but the Chiefs defense rose to the occasion and forced a punt. Krieg then led his team on a 90-yard drive, starting out with a 26-yard completion to J. J. Birden and later completing a 19-yarder to tight end Keith Cash on fourth down and 2, to score on a 1-yard touchdown run by Allen. However, Buffalo scored 10 unanswered points in the final quarter to preserve the victory. First they responded to the Chiefs touchdown with an 18-yard field goal by Christie. Then a sack by Phil Hansen forced Kansas City to punt, and Copeland again gave his team good field position with a return to the Bills 48-yard line, where the team started a 52-yard drive to put the game away on Thomas' 3-yard touchdown run.

For the Bills, this was the third straight year they defeated a future Hall of Fame quarterback to advance to the Super Bowl. They beat John Elway and his Denver Broncos in the 1991 AFC Championship Game and Dan Marino and his Miami Dolphins in 1992. For Montana, this was his seventh start in a conference championship game, the most of any quarterback, breaking his tie with Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach. (In 2013, Tom Brady surpassed Montana by starting in his eighth AFC Championship Game.) He also joined the select group to start in the conference championship for two different franchises, joining Craig Morton (Cowboys and Broncos), Doug Williams (Buccaneers and Redskins) and Jay Schroeder (Redskins and Raiders). This was also Kelly's fifth conference championship game which is tied for fifth most with Ken Stabler, Elway, Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb. Copeland finished with 138 all-purpose yards, including five punt returns for 70.

It was the first AFC Championship Game that was a rematch of a previous AFL Championship Game, the former taking place in 1966.

This was the third postseason meeting between the Chiefs and Bills. The teams split the prior two meetings.

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