As a Buffalo Bills fan in the 2000s and 2010s, you find yourself being a hopeful optimist most of the time when it comes to games in December. Sometimes, it is just being an unrealistic optimist when the chances are 0.00001%, you still are Jim Carrey from “Dumb and Dumber” saying “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”
But as I have gotten older and I’d like to think a little more wiser, you start to realize that at this point it is just smoke and mirrors. Here in the 2015 version of the Buffalo Bills season, that is exactly what it is. Are the Bills still in the playoff race? Sure, but the likelihood of them making it is slim-to-none. Hey, it’s fun to play that hopeful optimist once in awhile though.
For Buffalo, they need to win out. Playing against the Redskins, Cowboys and Jets, with the latter two at home, that is a realistic opportunity. Thus, the Bills can again finish at 9-7, a game out of the playoffs, just like the 2014 version of this team did.
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They need three of the following four things to happen, however, in addition to that
- Kansas City loses out
- Pittsburgh loses two of their final three
- Jets lose of their final three
- Oakland loses one game
For Buffalo to make the playoffs, I don’t think there is a chance in any other parallel universe that the Chiefs lose every single game remaining on their schedule. So, what is needed are the final three things on those bullet points.
Let’s skip the Steelers for a second and jump to the Jets. New York can absolutely lose two of their final three games, with one coming against the Pats and another in Buffalo against the Bills. The Week 17 matchup would play as a win-and-in game most likely flexed to a primetime slot. So there’s one thing on our list.
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The final thing on those bullet points is for Oakland to lose a game. The Raiders have the Packers, Chargers and Chiefs left on their schedule. Frankly, they could lose all three of those games. But all Buffalo needs is one.
Back to Pittsburgh, which is where things get a little tricky and kind of depressing if you’re hoping to see your Bills team play past the first weekend of 2016. The Steelers play Denver on Sunday night this week, a game they could very well lose. There is one loss. The second loss is going to have to come from a miracle of sorts by the terrible rest of the AFC North.
Pittsburgh is in Baltimore to take on the Ravens and then in Cleveland to face the Browns. Frankly, I don’t see the Steelers losing either of those games, but hey, weirder things have happened in the NFL.
So, as the hopeful optimist that I have become, the optimism in Bills country may be a little unrealistic. But hey, it’s something you learn to hold out hope for when your team hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999.