The confetti is swept up in Santa Clara, CA, and the Seattle Seahawks are sitting on top of the football world. Just one year ago, that felt like one of the more improbable scenarios that could have played out.
For a team like the Buffalo Bills, one that has been right on the cusp of greatness for years, it is another shining example of what it takes to win it all. All of the offseason focus has been on the wide receiver room, and with great justification behind it.
General manager Brandon Beane will need to do better in the draft in the face of salary cap questions and an expensive core. Even if they had greater flexibility, the current free agent crop leaves a lot to be desired.
If anything, Beane can focus his approach by looking at what the Seahawks did.
Defense was the catalyst for the Seahawks
The Seahawks are following a formula that has been largely tried and true throughout NFL history. But even if we focus on 2020 and beyond, it becomes clear that the Super Bowl champions each year all had something in common: a defense they could count on.
The Seahawks were an outlier, of course, potentially one of the best defenses of the 21st century. They had no discernible weaknesses, strengths at every position group, and the ability to force offenses into doing what they wanted.
Anyone who watched the Super Bowl could see the formula. Sure, Sam Darnold had a borderline MVP season. Jaxson Smith-Njigba was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. The offense had weapons and scored on everyone.
But in the biggest game of the season, the offense was conservative because it could be. Rather than put Darnold into uncomfortable positions that would put the ball at risk, the Seahawks were content to settle for field goals. When you have a defense as ferocious as theirs, one that tormented New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, you can take that approach.
Defense has been the catalyst in nearly every championship season since 2020
History is always an excellent teacher. For a Bills team that has been one of the best offensive teams in football over the last five seasons, it seems unfathomable that they have not reached the Super Bowl. But one look at their defensive metrics, particularly in the playoffs, shows the truth.
Defenses under former head coach Sean McDermott consistently were a letdown in the playoffs. Josh Allen is statistically one of the best quarterbacks ever in the playoffs, but has more heartbreaking losses than someone of his caliber should have.
Let’s look back at the 2020 Kansas City Chiefs, the season that started their dynastic run. Patrick Mahomes was excellent – 38 touchdowns to six interceptions – but not otherworldly. He had weapons all around him, but the defense, featuring game-wrecker Chris Jones, came up big when needed.
The following year, with the Chiefs back in the Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played spoiler. Yes, they had Tom Brady, but he wasn’t vintage Brady. The pass rush of the Bucs made Mahomes’ day a nightmare en route to a championship.
In 2022, the Los Angeles Rams utilized Matthew Stafford and a historic effort from receiver Cooper Kupp to take a run at the title. The defense was nothing to write home about, but they had arguably the greatest defensive player ever, Aaron Donald, still in his prime.
The 2023 and 2024 Chiefs still had Mahomes doing Mahomes things, but the defense became the standout. They still had Jones, but had supplemented him with playmakers throughout the defense.
In 2025, the Chiefs were once again throttled by an elite pass rush. Much like the Seahawks, the Philadelphia Eagles had drafted deftly, found several key pieces for their core, and used a vicious front four to wreck Mahomes and the Chiefs.
The common denominator: true difference makers on defense.
The Bills lack a game-changer on defense
It is easy to fall back on Allen and his Superman feats. That said, we can see that having a great defense – or at least a substantial impact player who makes a difference every game – is critical to championship success.
As it stands, the Bills don’t have that. Unless they get extremely fortunate, they aren’t likely to find that player with the 26th overall pick in the NFL Draft. Hampered as they are by cap limitations, it feels like an outside shot that they could add a real difference-maker like Maxx Crosby.
For the Bills, the defense has been the Achilles heel, the kryptonite to their own Man of Steel. Allen is the proven commodity. He has the tools to continue to be great. But until the defense can prove itself in big moments, he will never stop feeling the pressure to throw on the cape and do it all himself.