KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs now know both when they will play and who they will play in the next step of their Super Bowl title defense.
The Miami Dolphins will visit GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night, Jan. 13 as part of the AFC Wild Card Weekend. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. central time and will be available nationally exclusively on the Peacock streaming network. In Kansas City, the game will also air locally on KSHB 41. The Chiefs have opened as 4 1/2-point favorites in the game.
It came down to the final game of the 2023 regular season to fill out the AFC playoff bracket. Both the Dolphins and Buffalo Bills had clinched postseason spots entering their Sunday night finale, but the AFC East divisional crown and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs remained up for grabs. The Bills secured their fourth straight AFC East title with a 21-14 victory. They will host the No. 7 seed Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday.
The third AFC Wild Card Weekend game on Saturday afternoon features the No. 5 seed Cleveland Browns visiting the fifth-seeded Houston Texans, who secured the AFC South title with a 23-19 win over Jacksonville Saturday night. The AFC North champion Baltimore Ravens, the No. 1 seed, have a first-round bye.
It’s the second meeting between the Chiefs and Dolphins this season after the two clubs met in Frankfort, Germany back in Week 9, which resulted in a 21-14 Chiefs victory. Patrick Mahomes completed 20-of-30 passing for 185 yards and two scores in that game but it was the Chiefs defense that proved the difference that day. The Kansas City defense shutout the Dolphins in the first half and the team took a 21-0 lead at halftime after cornerback Trent McDuffie forced a fumble by Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill that resulted in a 59-yard return for a touchdown by safety Bryan Cook.
This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, and Miami won each of the first three meetings. The last time the two clubs met in the playoffs, Miami beat the Chiefs 27-17 in a Wild Card game despite quarterback Joe Montana passing for 314 yards and two scores. The Dolphins also knocked off the Chiefs 17-16 in a Wild Card game in January 1991, rallying for 14 points in the fourth quarter behind two touchdown passes by Dan Marino.
The Chiefs and Dolphins famously played the longest game in NFL history on Christmas Day 1971 in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs. The two teams finished regulation knotted at 24-24, and it took double overtime — 82 minutes, 40 seconds of action — until Miami’s Garo Yepremian connected on a 37-yard game-winning field goal. The Dolphins defeated the Baltimore Colts 21-0 the following week in the AFC Championship game before falling to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI.
