NFL play-offs preview: Buffalo Bills prep cold welcome for Kansas City Chiefs

The Detroit Lions against the Buffalo Bills would not be the sexiest Super Bowl match-up but no teams and their long-suffering fans are more deserving of a moment in the gridiron spotlight than the two of the USA's blue collar Rust Belt cities.

Twelve teams have never won a Super Bowl and three - Lions, Bills and Houston Texans - play in this weekend's divisional round where a win takes them into the conference finals and a step closer to Las Vegas, site of the championship game.

Detroit and Houston have hosted America's biggest sporting party but never played in a Super Bowl, while the Bills made four consecutive appearances in the showpiece match from 1991 losing all four, some in truly agonising fashion.

NFL Divisional Round Fixtures [Irish times]

Saturday

Baltimore Ravens v Houston Texans, 9.30pm

Sunday

San Francisco 49ers v Green Bay Packers, 1.15am

Detroit Lions v Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8pm

Buffalo Bills v Kansas City Chiefs, 11.30pm

Visit Buffalo and mention "Wide Right" and death stares will follow triggering memories of one of the most painful losses in the region's sporting history - Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal attempt in the dying seconds of Super Bowl XXV that allowed the New York Giants to escape with a 20-19 win.

While Buffalo's pain comes from near misses, Detroit's heartache is spread over decades with the Lions' victory over the Los Angeles Rams in last weekend's Wild Card game just their second playoff win in 65 years.

The low point in the franchise's nearly 100-year history came in 2008 when, with United States gripped by recession and the auto industry meltdown, the Lions added to the bleakness by stumbling through a winless 0-16 campaign.

In comparison to the Bills and Lions, the Texans, the