PITTSBURGH — The sight of Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce standing atop another makeshift stage, wearing another championship hat and cradling another trophy following another big-game victory, surely rankled some football fans already beset with a nagging illness otherwise known as Chiefs fatigue.

I'm just not one of them.

I'm here for the history: Kansas City's bid to become the first team to win three Super Bowls, Mahomes eclipsing Joe Montana in playoff wins (now at 17) and now trailing only Tom Brady (35).

Getting mad and looking past what we're seeing is dumb. And futile.

The product the NFL put out there on championship Sunday reminded once more why we're addicted, why those of you insisting you'll quit the Steelers next season because you're angry are simply full of you know what. It's too captivating to avoid.

There was also plenty to learn, especially as it pertains to the town with the ... 9-8 or 10-7 football team. Here's what I mean:

— It's OK to bottom out. No, really.

The Eagles went 4-11-1 in 2020, leading to — buckle your seatbelts — a head coaching change (Nick Sirianni), a new/franchise quarterback (Jalen Hurts) and more. After finishing 9-8 in 2021, Philadelphia broke through at 14-3, losing to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

Perhaps the most painful realization of the Eagles scoring a 55-23 victory over the Commanders: Philadelphia has three Super Bowl trips and one title since the Steelers last won a playoff game.

On the other side of the NFC championship game, the Commanders went 4-13 in 2023, positioning them to draft Jayden Daniels at No. 2. After ownership, front office and coaching changes, Washington's resurgence became one of the best stories in the NFL this season.

Not only that, Daniels (303 combined yards, two touchdowns) played extremely well on Sunday, continuing to make a bunch of other teams jealous with his athletic ability, moxie and maturity ... and doing all of that on a rookie contract.

— It's also OK to be aggressive, especially on fourth down.

Sunday featured a combined 14 fourth-down attempts, with the Eagles, Commanders, Bills and Chiefs converting 10 of them. The Steelers this season went 7 for 18 on fourth down, one of several ways they've deviated from the NFL pack.

I also couldn't get past the other teams scoring on their opening possessions. Apparently it's legal.

The Commanders went 18 plays and kicked a field goal. Saquon Barkley scampered 60 yards. The Bills went three-and-out, but the Chiefs marched 90 yards on nine plays and got a 12-yard touchdown run from Kareem Hunt.

The Steelers, of course, failed to score a touchdown on their first drive the entire season.

— Those also weren't the only facets of Sunday's game that felt like unfamiliar territory.

My favorite throw of the day came in the first game, the Commanders facing third-and-3 from Philly's 36-yard line. Daniels found Terry McLaurin over the middle on a slant, hit him in stride and let his wide receiver do the rest.

When was the last time you saw a play like that executed around here?

A close second might've been Josh Allen's throw to Buffalo wide receiver Curtis Samuel in the back of the end zone to tie the AFC championship game, 29-29, with 6:15 to go in the fourth quarter. Allen smartly waited for a window to open and threaded the needle on fourth down.

— I realize it doesn't line up perfectly with the end of Ben Roethlisberger's career, but how frustrating is it to hear the Steelers passed on Hurts in the 2020 NFL draft to select Chase Claypool later in the second round?

— The best overall play of the day might've been running back James Cook, who Matrix'd himself over the goal line for a 22-21 Buffalo lead with 2:56 to go in the third quarter. It was also an option play run to perfection — which has about a 0.001% chance of ever occurring in Arthur Smith's offense.

I loved the way Allen handled this, then the run by Cook was something else. Gutsy, athletic, dramatic, all of it. Much like the game itself. Just think about the key marking points of Bills-Chiefs, starting with that play:

— Cook 1-yard TD run on fourth down

— Chiefs three-and-out

— Bills can't convert on fourth down

— Mahomes to former Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for 29 yards, then running it himself for a 10-yard touchdown and 29-22 lead with 10:14 left

— Bills answer with a 70-yard drive, capped by Allen to Samuel (again on fourth down)

— Mahomes more magic, setting up a Harrison Butker field goal and 32-29 Kansas City lead with 3:33 to go

— An exotic, delayed blitz that stops Buffalo again on fourth down

— Chiefs salt it away

All of these things happening, yet I'm supposed to be angry the Chiefs are chasing history by reaching the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six years?

No, I'm watching an elite team at the height of its powers, quarterbacked by one of the all-time greats, and jaw-on-the-floor drama opposite its favorite foil.

I'm cool with that.

— One criticism of the day: too many tush pushes. I counted 11 between the two games, six that were successful.

It's not rugby — or at least I don't think so. The NFL needs to do something.

The other thing I didn't love was the aversion to taking points after touchdowns. Too many forced two-point conversions, though if you can figure out how to stop football coaches from showing the world how smart they are, bottle that and sell it.

— OK, third critique. I lied.

What were the Bills doing running a wide receiver screen on third-and-10 on their final possession? Did someone need to borrow Artie Smith's truck? Didn't understand that one.

— Saquon Barkley has seven rushing touchdowns of 60 or more yards this season when you include playoffs. Nobody else has more than three.

He's the ninth player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, has averaged 147.3 in three postseason games, and I'm still not sure we talk about him enough.

We may be watching the NFL's best back in a fairly long time. In his last four games alone, Barkley has scoring runs of 60, 62, 78 and 68 yards. Still wild to me that the Steelers held him to 65 yards on 19 carries (3.4 average), his second-worst output of the season.

— It's been a rough time for tight ends.

After Baltimore's Mark Andrews dropped a two-point conversion pass in the divisional round, it was Buffalo's Dalton Kincaid who couldn't corral Allen's desperation heave on fourth down.

I don't blame Kincaid for being upset. But there were several other Buffalo miscues, including a bad opening possession, a first half where they didn't establish the running game, some silly decisions on two-point attempts and that questionable pass to Amari Cooper on the play before Kincaid's drop.

— Spare me the nonsense on an NFL conspiracy to help the Chiefs.

Sure, the officiating in prior games has been suspect. Not talking about that. But the two "controversial calls" Sunday ... sorry, I don't see how they should have been handled any differently.

The first involved a 50/50 ball between Kansas City wide receiver Xavier Worthy and Buffalo safety Cole Bishop. Initial ruling was a 26-yard catch down to the 3, and the Bills challenged.

I didn't see enough that was definitive to overturn the call on the field — and neither did the officials.

Later, when Allen was stopped short on fourth-and-1 from the Chiefs 41, the spot of the ball was questioned. Gene Steratore (who I generally like) then delivered one of the lines of the day, insisting Allen got it "by about a third of the football."

Huh?

Why the NFL doesn't incorporate more technology for this sort of stuff is beyond me. But zeroing in through a mess of bodies to see that Allen had the first down by fewer than four inches?

Much like what makes the NFL king, regardless of what happens with Mahomes' Chiefs, is that you couldn't replicate this level of drama or absurdity if you tried.

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