It’s Super Bowl Sunday in the NFL and Bills fans are wishing that it were the Buffalo Bills that would be taking the field against the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, it’s the team that has owned them in the playoffs; the Kansas City Chiefs. This is officially the second Sunday where there is no Bills football and it’s only the beginning.
Once the Super Bowl comes to an end, the long wait begins for the 2025 season kickoff. Between now and then, we will be entering free agency, the NFL Draft (set to take in Green Bay), and training camp. The month of February tends to be very tedious within the NFL just because nothing major usually happens.
However, this is a time to reflect on the 2024 season for the Bills and look at what needs to be improved for next season. There is no better place to look at room for improvement than at the worst games the Bills played this season.
What are the five worst games the Bills played in 2024?
5.) Week 16 vs. New England Patriots (Bills won 24-21)
This is the only game on this list where the Bills came out with the win, but this matchup against the New England Patriots was a little painful to watch. The Bills decided to wear their color rush jerseys, but with white pants instead of the full red uniform. Maybe that plays into a role with them playing down to their competition? Who knows.
All that we know is that for a good moment during this game, the Patriots were looking like they were coming into Orchard Park and pulling off a major upset. They took an early 14-0 lead and then the Bills’ offense finally started to wake up. At the same time, this game was closer than it should have been. New England had the biggest lead of the game, but they couldn’t close it out at the end with a failed onside kick attempt after bringing the score within three points.
Drake Maye showed Bills fans that he can easily become New England’s next franchise quarterback with over 260 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Josh Allen looked rough against a weak Patriots defense, with having just 184 scrimmage yards.
4.) Week 5 vs. Houston Texans (Bills lost 23-20)
This was by far the worst game of the season for Josh Allen alone. Quite frankly, it might be his worst game that he has ever played since being drafted. Due to his horrific performance, Buffalo’s offense wasn’t able to do much against Houston until it was too late.
After Buffalo took an early 3-0 lead, they gave up 20 unanswered points including a 67-yard touchdown from C.J. Stroud to Nico Collins. While the Bills were able to crawl out of the hold they dug, their offense completely blew it late in the fourth quarter. Instead of finding ways to take time off the clock to force overtime tied 20-20, the Bills opted to throw three straight passes (all of which were incomplete) and they gave Houston the ball back to kick a game-winning field goal.
The Bills dropped to 3-2 after this loss and it looked like their miraculous 3-0 run was coming to a quick end and the season was going to start going south.
3.) AFC championship game vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Bills lost 32-29)
There’s no way that this game wasn’t making the list, but it honestly was not the worst. Even though it seemed like it was, the Bills got off to a slow start overall before finally showing some signs of life near the end of the first half.
The thing that should really bug Bills fans about this game is how the Bills had the chance to tie and force overtime, or potentially win it in regulation, and Kansas City brought out the all-out blitzes and the Bills never responded to it. The Bills only had two leads throughout the game and they didn’t last long at all.
Maybe the refs did make the wrong call by calling Josh Allen short on a 4th down conversion that would have kept the momentum for the Bills, but one play doesn’t define a pathetic start to the game that Buffalo had.
2.) Week 14 vs. Los Angeles Rams (Bills lost 44-42)
This game qualifies as one of the few “game of the year” candidates and the Bills were once again on the losing side of it. It seems like every season, Buffalo goes into a game against a random opponent and it ends up being a high-scoring affair, yet they can never come out on top. The Rams welcomed the Bills to LA and delivered one Buffalo’s biggest beatdowns on defense in 2024.
The Rams only punted once and had it not been for Josh Allen putting on his Superman cape in the second half, the score would not have been as close as it was. Puka Nacua was having his way with Buffalo’s secondary and Matthew Stafford finished with a 132.6 rating.
If you are a defensive football fan, this game was a nightmare for you.
1.) Week 4 vs. Baltimore Ravens (Bills lost 35-10)
This should be at the top of the list and there is no argument to it. The Bills were heading into Week 4 against the Ravens at 3-0, feeling great about themselves. They were averaging 37 points per game and only allowing 16 points over their first three games. Then they were humbled real quickly by Derrick Henry and the rushing attack for Baltimore.
The Ravens rushed for 271 yards on the Bills which included an opening 87-yard touchdown run by Henry on Baltimore’s first play of the game. Lamar Jackson also had three total touchdowns on the night and the Ravens showed the NFL, at the time, that they are a team no one should want to face.
Even though the Bills got the last laugh in the playoffs, this was a tough Sunday night game to watch before Monday morning came for Bills fans.