Are the Buffalo Bills heading in the right direction?
Photo from Sporting News
Orchard Park, New York (PSF) — The Buffalo Bills were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday after falling to the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 27-10. The Bengals jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, as Joe Burrow’s bunch now heads to their second consecutive AFC Championship game.
Although the Bills had yet another impressive regular season, they were unable to live up to their preseason expectations as Super Bowl favorites. They will once again be watching the AFC Championship game from their couch, and as Josh Allen’s mega-contract is soon to go into effect, it is worth wondering whether or not Buffalo is heading in the right direction.
The Bills' last three playoff appearances highlight a concerning trend. The 2020 season saw the Bills reach the AFC Championship Game before falling to the Chiefs. The Bills fell to the Chiefs again the following postseason, this time in the Divisional Round in one of the greatest playoff games of all time.
Now this year, the Bills were unable to make it past the Divisional round, but instead of losing in a last-second overtime thriller like the year prior, they lost a fairly one-sided game as home favorites.
In this same time frame, the Bengals have gone from one of the worst teams in football to back-to-back AFC Championship appearances, and to make matters worse, the AFC is only getting better. The conference is brimming with young quarterback talent. Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Trevor Lawrence are just some of the great quarterbacks the conference has to offer.
In other words, these teams aren’t going anywhere, and fans across the league have been waiting for Buffalo to take that next step, but after four straight years of coming up short in the AFC, it is unclear if that jump is coming.
It’s easy to blame the 2022 season on injuries. After all, key defensive contributors such as Von Miller, Micah Hyde, and Tre’Davious White missed significant time. However, those injuries don’t explain the offensive inconsistencies that plagued the Bills down the stretch.
The Bills will likely enter the 2023 season as one of the favorites, and rightfully so, but it’s hardly alarmist to point out the pattern. While other teams have been able to make the jump to the Super Bowl, the Bills, thus far, haven’t.