The New England Patriots didn't just prove their doubters wrong Sunday. They also thumbed their collective noses at history.
Prior to Sunday's showdown between the Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, no home team had ever scored 30 or more points in the AFC Championship Game and lost.
That is, before New England hung 37 points on the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in a 37-31 overtime win.
That's not how Kansas City would like to enter the record books.
The Patriots did have the benefit of an overtime period, but they still scored 31 points in regulation, which is abnormally high for a road team in a conference championship game.
In fact, only two other road teams (in either conference) have topped 30 points in a conference title game since the 1970 merger. The last team do so: the 2006 Patriots, who lost a 38-34 shootout to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts at the RCA Dome.
New England Patriots
(The other was the 1987 Cleveland Browns, who lost a 38-33 heartbreaker to the Broncos in Denver.)
That the Chiefs joined this shortlist isn't surprising, though. Kansas City's defense allowed 26.3 points per game during the regular season, which ranked 24th in the NFL and was the highest total of any playoff team.
Tom Brady and the Patriots, meanwhile, boasted the NFL's fourth-best offense during the regular season and dropped 41 points on the Los Angeles Chargers the week prior.
Still, giving up 38 points at home is a pretty bad look for Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, whose defense failed to hold up its end of the bargain despite Kansas City notching 31 points for the second straight playoff game.
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