One of the biggest what-ifs in Buffalo Bills history was the infamous “13 seconds” game in the Divisional Round of the 2021/2022 playoffs, when them and the Kansas City Chiefs were going back-and-forth late in the fourth quarter. The Bills found themselves up 36-33 with 13 seconds after Josh Allen connected with Gabe Davis for his 4th touchdown of the night, but it unfortunately was not enough.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs worked their magic to not just get a game-tying field goal, but they ended up getting the win in overtime. If only the Bills had stood their ground better, there is a very good chance that they would have been Super Bowl bound.
Then going into the following season, there were a ton of high hopes for the Bills with their biggest free agency splash of landing Von Miller, who was brought in to be the closer on defense that the Bills had been lacking for many years.
As we all know though, the Bills’ 2022 season ended in yet another Divisional Round loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and it wasn’t even close. Going into that season, the Bills had all of the hype and they were destined to make a run at the Super Bowl. Instead, that specific team is now a member of ESPN’s Aaron Schatz list of the best teams to ever fall short of a Super Bowl.
2022 Bills team had everything to win the Super Bowl (until they didn't)
Schatz listed some of the best teams in NFL history who failed to win, or even make the Super Bowl and the 2022 Bills were listed considering the success that they had in all three phases of the game.
"In the regular season, this was the best of the recent quarterback Josh Allen Bills teams. The 2022 Bills are the only team in the history of DVOA to finish either first or second in all three phases of the game: second on offense, second on defense, first on special teams. They also finished second in both points scored and allowed." said Schatz.
"In the wild-card round, the Bills had a surprisingly close call against a Dolphins team forced to start third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson. They escaped with a 34-31 victory. Their divisional-round game presented a rematch of the game that was canceled in Week 17 because of safety Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest. It was never close, as the Bengals stormed to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back." Schatz added.
That season was mixed with a bunch of ups-and-downs, and in the end, they just simply didn't have enough by the time the Bengals came to Orchard Park in the playoffs. Buffalo looked absolutely terrible on both sides of the ball, and the Bills ultimately didn't put up a fight. Cincinnati's offense was too much to handle for Buffalo's defense, and Allen and the offense looked completely lost.
The Bengals ended up winning that game 27-10, and it never felt close at all.
Bills continue to be one of league's elite, but nothing to show for it
No one can deny that the Bills are one of the league’s best teams, but they don’t have anything to show for it other than AFC East titles. Sure, they can light up the scoreboard and Josh Allen has made so many highlights that have jaws dropping in shock.
At the same time, it’s been the same story with the Bills. Great regular season, getting atleast one playoff win, and then going through a heartbreaking loss in some kind of fashion. A missed field goal, defense falling apart in crucial moments, whatever you want to list, it has happened.
With all of the changes that the Bills made this offseason, they now look towards Joe Brady to be the one that fixes everything and does what Sean McDermott couldn’t do as the head coach of the Bills.
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