Bills Fall Short to Chiefs Yet Again
Should the Bills turn to Bill Belichick, of all people, to help save their playoff woes? In the past five seasons, the Buffalo Bills have never reached the Super Bowl despite being highly favored to do so multiple times under Josh Allen’s and Sean McDermott’s tenure. As crazy as it sounds, turning to Belichick and firing McDermott could be the surprising shakeup that gets the Bills over their chronic playoff hump. McDermott is an extremely solid teambuilder and defensively-minded head coach but might be capped at second or third-round playoff exits while Belichick has been there and done that with multiple Super Bowls. As we have all seen, pairing Belichick with an elite quarterback has proven immensely successful in the recent past, so why not try it again in Buffalo at this point?
Allen played great football down the stretch for the Bills, leading Buffalo to six straight victories, but as a die-hard Bills fan, the reality is simple: Buffalo just cannot get over the playoff hurdle. Despite beating the Chiefs in time of possession (37:03 to 22:57), first downs (27 to 21), total yards (368 to 361), 3rd down conversions (7-14 to 1-5), 4th down conversions (2-3 to 0-0), and turnovers (0 to 1), the Bills ended up losing at home to Kansas City. In a game where the Bills looked strong after the first half at home, in a year where the stars were aligning at the right time, where all the right veterans were still on the team (those that hadn’t gotten injured yet), and Allen playing turnover-free football, the Bills still lost this crucial game in the playoffs. To make matters even crazier, every time that Patrick Mahomes has squared off with Allen, the leader at halftime has ended up winning the game (the Bills were up 17-13), and in this game, the Bills still didn’t win. Ultimately, I believe the difference in this game was key injuries on the Bills’ defense, as the Chiefs were able to move the ball seamlessly all game on only 47 offensive plays to score 27 points. Critical mistakes, including a failed 4th down fake-punt attempt on their own 30-yard line in the 4th, a dropped pass by Diggs on a 70-yard bomb from Allen, and a misthrow by Allen to Shakir in the back of the end zone all led to the ultimate catastrophic Bills mistake, a missed field goal wide-right to end the game. In the Bills’ last ten games this season, Kalil Shakir had 462 yards on 38 targets, and Stefon Diggs recorded 422 yards on 80 targets! Diggs’ meager performance down the stretch and future with the Bills is concerning, along with several other veterans on the roster.
The Buffalo Bills will have a critical offseason to look themselves in the mirror and reevaluate around Allen heading into next season. Aging players with large contracts, including Von Miller, Stefon Diggs, Mitch Morse, and Jordan Poyer (to name a few), will be headaches for the Bills to manage as they will be over the cap limit by $43.7 million (3rd worst in the NFL). Allen and starting left tackle Dion Dawkins have been preaching for Bills fans to “keep believing” in this team after the devastating loss to KC, but that request is not so easy moving forward for many Bills fans, including me.