NFL PLAYOFFS / XXVIII Looks Just Like XXVII : Bills Hoping Fourth Time Is the Charm : AFC: Thomas runs wild as Buffalo knocks out Montana and rolls to 30-13 victory, setting up rematch with Cowboys.

As the final minutes ticked away in Sunday’s AFC title game at Rich Stadium, Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly leaned into a sideline camera, beamed and declared, “We’re back.”

Don’t touch that dial, America. Your worst nightmare is about unfold in living color.

The Bills are back in the Super Bowl.

Back where nobody outside of Buffalo seems to want them.

Back for the rematch with the Dallas Cowboys.

Back facing abuse.

Back seeking redemption.

Buffalo, loser of three consecutive Super Bowls, qualified for an unprecedented fourth in a row by beating the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, 30-13, behind the running of Thurman Thomas to win the AFC championship before a sellout crowd of 76,642.

Chief quarterback Joe Montana’s dream of getting into a fifth Super Bowl ended in disappointment and confusion. Montana finished the game on the sidelines, his head whirling from a concussion he received early in the second half.

On the other sideline, Kelly was reveling in the fact that he had disappointed so many people who wanted a new AFC representative in Super Bowl XXVIII.

“To the people who counted us out and didn’t want us here,” Kelly said, “I’m sorry.”

But when it comes to the AFC, the Bills have nothing to apologize for. Sunday’s victory was Buffalo’s fourth in a row in the conference championship game, ninth in a row in the AFC playoffs and eighth in a row in Rich Stadium, where Buffalo has never lost an AFC playoff game.

The Bills weren’t about to lose Sunday’s game. Not when they saw the Chiefs in a defensive scheme that featured six defensive backs, one linebacker and four down linemen.

Thomas was salivating at the thought of the havoc he could wreak in the Kansas City backfield against that alignment.

So was Kelly, who couldn’t wait to call Thomas’ number--and did, over and over and over again.

The result was 33 carries for 186 yards for Thomas, a club playoff record, and three touchdowns in what Thomas called “probably the best game of my six-year career.”

Thomas scored on runs of 12 and three yards in the first half, blowing by a Kansas City blitz on both occasions.

On the first touchdown, Thomas filled a hole left by an onrushing Martin Bayless, avoided a one-handed swipe by Charles Mincy at the five-yard line and trotted into the end zone.

On his second touchdown, Thomas could have walked in.

As a matter of fact, he practically did.

From the Kansas City three-yard line, Thomas was supposed to head up the middle. Instead, he found an all-out blitz going directly over center Kent Hull.

So Thomas veered right and found no Chief within reach and barely any within sight.

“When you’ve got 300-pound linemen beating on defensive backs,” Thomas said, “you’re going to put a little wear and tear on a guy.

“I was just pumped up. Everything was going for eight, nine, 10 yards every time I touched the ball and that adrenaline I knew was going to stay with me for a long, long time.”

The only one able to keep the Chiefs in the game in the first half was kicker Nick Lowery, whose two 31-yard field goals left Kansas City only a point behind, 7-6, after one quarter.

After Thomas’ second touchdown, Steve Christie added field goals of 23 and 25 yards to extend the Bills’ lead to 20-6 with two minutes remaining in the half.

That’s when Montana made his presence felt, the Joe Montana, the Montana who has won four Super Bowls, the Montana who invigorated the Chiefs this season, the Montana who has brought his teams back in the fourth quarter 29 times in his career.

Starting at his 20, Montana drove the Chiefs to the Bills’ five-yard line. A touchdown would send Kansas City to the locker room trailing by only seven points.

Montana had that touchdown in his sights when he tossed a pass over the middle to a wide-open Kimble Anders.

But the ball sailed out of Anders’ hands into the waiting arms of Buffalo defensive back Henry Jones.

So much for momentum.

So much for Montana.

He was knocked out of the game on the third play of the second half, his head hitting the hard turf when he was sandwiched between defenders Bruce Smith, Jeff Wright and Phil Hansen.

Montana left having completed only nine of 23 passes for 125 yards.

On came veteran Dave Krieg, who proved more effective than Montana at moving the club. Krieg drove the Chiefs to their only touchdown of the game, Marcus Allen going over from a yard out in the third quarter. Allen finished with 50 yards rushing in 18 carries.

His touchdown made it 20-13. Suddenly, Kansas City was only seven points back. And suddenly that fast-moving Buffalo running game was reduced to a crawl. Switching back to their base defense in the second half, the Chiefs closed up those big holes the Buffalo offensive line had been opening.

But only temporarily. The Bills, who would wind up with 229 yards rushing and 389 yards in total offense, put together two fourth-quarter drives to put the game out of reach.

The first ended with an 18-yard Christie field goal, the second with another three-yard scoring run by Thomas.

And finally, the Buffalo defense closed the lid on Kansas City’s bid to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970.

James Williams intercepted a Krieg pass in the fourth quarter to kill one drive.

On the final play of the game, with the Chiefs at the Bills’ three-yard line, Krieg hit Todd McNair with a pass that appeared to be good enough for the touchdown that would at least make the final score respectable.

Not quite.

Linebacker Darryl Talley corralled McNair at the one-yard line as the celebrating began.

“I would say that we should be proud of everything we have accomplished,” Allen said when it was over, “and I think that taste in our mouth should bring us back next year.”

But for now, the Chiefs are going home.

And the Bills are going back to the Super Bowl.

Eat your heart out, America.