The first weekend of fall is supposed to bring hope to fans of every NFL team. For this writer, it is more a sense of dread. Being a fan of the most snakebit franchise in the league makes watching my favorite team something I do through gritted teeth, just waiting for something to go wrong. In honor of yet another soul-crushing defeat on national television to Zach Wilson’s Jets, it is time to look back at the many ways and many times the Buffalo Bills franchise has stolen defeat from the jaws of victory. Initially I was only going to rock the top 10, but there have been so many debacles that this writer made it all the way to 20 epic losses. Buckle-up, because depending on where your loyalties lie, this can either be therapeutic reading or laughing through your tears.
While as a millennial I was not around for the Super Bowls or earlier and do have a lot of recency bias, I found that few Bills defeats pre-1990 were truly devastating; they kind of just stunk most years like the Detroit Lions, but in this millennium there has been a troubling trend of teasing fans only to rip it away at the worst time.
If any reader wants to do one for their own team or wants me to, hit me up!
If you want to see the moments themselves, click on the “lowlights” link below each entry for the video. NFL copyright rules don’t allow me to embed highlight videos. Presenting the 20 most devasting losses in Bills history:
Honorable Mention: This past Monday
2023 Week 1 – New York Jets 22, Buffalo Bills 16 (OT)
Recency bias sure, but somehow, after the life was sucked out of the Jets when their star QB goes down hurt, and possessing a 16-3 halftime lead against Zach Wilson, the Bills proceeded to throw up on themselves, turning the ball over 4 times in the second half and allowing the Jets to stumble their way back into the game.
That being said, even my pessimistic and tortured Bills soul never expected a walk off punt return TD by the Jets. Led by this guy. How much more can we take?!?!
#20 – The Cold Front melts in Oakland
2014 Week 16 – Oakland Raiders 26, Buffalo Bills 24
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A defeat that often flies under the radar, this week 16 loss in 2014 ended the Bills best chance at breaking The Playoff Drought in a decade. With a devasting “Cold Front” defense leading the way, the Bills cobbled together wins despite shaky quarterback play from EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton. Having pulled off a massive upset of the Green Bay Packers just prior, the Bills headed to Oakland needing to win the final two games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. We all know what happens next.
The Bills, for no apparent reason, abandoned their strong run game early and tried to Let Orton Cook, to predictably poor results. Down 19-17 in the 4th quarter, the Bills defense needed to make a stand like they had all year long. They did not. They let rookie QB Derek Carr torch them all drive long, ending in a touchdown that left them down 26-17. Orton, to his credit, got to work and tossed a spectacular 30-yard touchdown to a well-covered Robert Woods with 1 minute left. With the game, and the season, on the line, the onside kick attempt went Oakland’s way.
Two weeks later, Bills Coach Doug Marrone quit rather than continue to endure the torture.
#19 – Brady Buries Bills for a 33rd Time
2021 Week 14 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33, Buffalo Bills 27 (OT)
Tom Brady. I make it a point here at Ridley Review to never personally attack someone, but my irrational hatred of this man toes that line. The punchable, new-age medicine peddling, kissing-his-kid-slowly-on-the-lips ex-Patriots and Bucs quarterback racked up an almost inconceivable 33-3 record against the Bills in his career (as an aside, one of those losses he sat out the last three quarters; the other two were a miracle Ryan Fitzmagic-led comeback and an random 31-0 beatdown in 2003). Having finally left New England for the sunnier shores of Tampa Bay in 2021, it looked the Bills could finally move on from the traumatic twice-annual beatdowns from that douchenozzle.
Ah, not so fast. Naturally, the Bills ended up facing the Bucs in Tampa his first year there. And in true Bills fashion, the Bills lost a heartbreaker ending with a Brady walk off touchdown in overtime. There were pillows and blankets being thrown at walls at Ridley HQ; I am lowkey proud of my restraint that I didn’t smash anything because oh baby was it tempting.
Down 27-10 and looking like they were heading for the exit door, Josh Allen rallied his team to 17 unanswered points to end the game, including a game-tying field goal with 20 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The Bills got the ball first, but couldn’t take advantage, allowing He Who Must Not Be Named to take over and do what he had done 32 times prior: a 43 yard touchdown ending the proceedings with authority.
#18 – Bills play Chiefs scared, Pay the Price
2020 AFC Conference Championship Game – Chiefs 38, Bills 24
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Up early in their first conference championship game in nearly 30 years, the Bills got close to several early touchdowns and Coach Sean McDermott kept insisting on settling for field goals instead of trying to bury the Chiefs when they had the chance. Give Chiefs coach Andy Reid and QB Patrick Mahomes time to come back, and they almost always do. Even when rallying late on, McDermott insisted on playing it safe and kicked a field goal while down three scores.
The iconic shot of Stefon Diggs standing alone on the field watching the Chiefs celebrate summed up everything about a night full of promise that ended up feeling so empty.
#17 – Browns Blowup Bickering Bills
1989 AFC Divisional Round – Cleveland Browns 34, Buffalo Bills 30
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1989 was quite year for the Bills. For a good chunk of the year, the team was in open warfare with one another, leading the squad to be labeled “The Bickering Bills”. When Jim Kelly wasn’t blaming his offensive line or Thurman Thomas wasn’t calling for Kelly to be benched, the Bills were putting together enough wins to make the postseason.
They ended up in Cleveland of all places for the Divisional Round, where Don Beebe fell on his head and Buffalo trailed early. Just when it looked like the season was going to petter out, the Bills roared back and scored a touchdown halfway through the 4th quarter to pull to within 3. Oh wait, this is the Bills we’re talking about. They missed the extra point, leaving them down 4 and needing another touchdown to steal the win. Jim Kelly led the Bills deep in Browns territory, throwing a solid pass to Running Back Ronnie Harmon for a would-be touchdown that slipped through his hands. Did they Bills regroup for the next play? Of course not; Kelly’s next pass was a season-ending interception with only seconds left.
#16 – 9 Turnovers in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl XXVII – Dallas Cowboys 52, Buffalo Bills 17
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With 5 minutes gone in the 1st quarter, the Bills held a 7-0 lead. Nothing went right for the ensuing 55 minutes. Less one devastating moment than death by a thousand cuts, the Cowboys gave the Bills a straight butt whooping. Quarterback Jim Kelly got hurt in the second quarter; replacement Frank Reich had the Bills down 14 going into the 4th quarter when things got out of hand.
Cowboys defensive end Leon Lett looked like a total clown when Bills wide receiver Don Beebe chased him down and prevented another touchdown, so at least that was dope.
#15 – Hail Murray
2020 Week 10 – Arizona Cardinals 33, Buffalo Bills 30
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Signing Stefon Diggs was a turning point for the Bills transformation from NFL wasteland to legit contender. Having signed the stud wide receiver in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings in 2020, the Bills were cruising at 7-2 heading into a duel in the desert with noted Call of Duty enthusiast Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. As hard as it is to believe now, this early version of the Kingsbury-Murray Cardinals were viewed as legit contenders and were sitting 5-3 at the time. A back and forth game all the way, the Bills were down 26-23 when Josh Allen led a drive late that ended in a clutch Diggs touchdown catch with 36 seconds on the clock.
As we will see later on this list, 36 seconds is plenty of time if your opponent is Buffalo, and sure enough here comes Murray leading his crew down the field. Yet with the Cards only at midfield with 11 seconds left and no timeouts, the game looked secure. Murray rolled left and heaved a prayer to a triple-covered DeAndre Hopkins, who somehow came down with the ball against three Pro Bowl Bills defenders for a walk off winner.
#14 – A Near Upset Ripped Away In SoCal
1980 AFC Divisional Round – San Diego Chargers 20, Buffalo Bills 14
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Having made the postseason only once since the ill-fated loss on the eve of the first Super Bowl to the Chiefs, (in 1974 behind a guy who certainly figured out how to escape sticky situations in O.J. Simpson) the 1980 Bills opened the decade having lost 20 (!) straight games to the Miami Dolphins. No, that isn’t a typo: the Bills lost every single football game played against Miami in the entire decade of the 70’s. Defeating them in week 1, Buffalo rode that momentum to an unexpected division title, defeating the Oakland Raiders 24-7 in the process. Remember that bit for later.
At San Diego in the playoffs, Quarterback Joe Ferguson sprained his ankle yet refused to quit. Hobbling on one leg, his inspirational return to the game sparked a Bills run that had them leading 14-13 deep into the 4th quarter. Early in the drive, Chargers QB Dan Fouts threw a horrendous pass right at Bills Cornerback Charley Romes. With the chance to clinch a Bills trip to the AFC Championship game, one step from the Super Bowl, the ball agonizingly bounced off the numbers of his jersey. Several plays later, Chargers Receiver Ron Smith got free over the middle, catching a 50-yard touchdown to crush the dreams of a whole generation of Bills. With two minutes to mount a rally, Joe Ferguson’s magic (and ankle) was tapped out, and Bills went down.
Remember that Raiders beatdown I mentioned? That’s who they would have played, at home, to go to the Super Bowl had they held on here.
#13 – Browns 6, Bills 3
2009 Week 5 – Cleveland Browns 6, Buffalo Bills 3
Browns QB Derek Anderson completed 2 of 17 passes with an interception. There were 16 punts between the two teams. When even the Browns are kicking game winning field goals under those circumstances, something has gone seriously, seriously wrong.
#12 – A Super Blowout
Super Bowl XXVI – Washington Redskins 37, Buffalo Bills 24
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The second straight Super Bowl loss was a different kind of heartbreaking than the first, which we will see much, much later on this list. Bills RB Thurman Thomas famously lost his helmet, and missed the opening series. Washington put a quick double-digit lead on the board with the Bills offense stuck in neutral, and the game was essentially over by the half.
The shock here came in how quickly the Bills capitulated; after the way they lost Super Bowl XXV the year before, it would expected to come out hot and spicy, ready to kick some bootay. The only bootay that got kicked was Buffalo’s.
#11 – This is how you do me
2010 Week 12 – Pittsburgh Steelers and maybe God 19, Buffalo Bills 16 (OT)
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Having nuked their season by starting 0-8, the playoffs were already out of reach by the time the Steelers came to town. So why is this one on this list? Because none other than God himself intervened against the Bills in this game.1
Down 13-0 at the half and with nothing to lose, Ryan Fitzpatrick gave us a half full of Fitzmagic. A touchdown pass to Fred “Action” Jackson and 3 field goals brought the teams to overtime. In OT, the Bills drove over midfield when Fitzpatrick uncorked a perfect bomb to a wide-open Stevie “Why So Serious” Johnson in the endzone. It was at that point divine intervention occurred, knocking the ball out of his hands. With that went hopes of an epic upset. Pittsburgh scored a field goal on the ensuing drive, but the real fireworks were just starting: an understandably distraught Stevie Johnson fired off a Hall of Fame tweet directed to a Higher Power, at least allowing fans some laughter through all the tears.
Stevie – if by chance you ever read this just know it’s all in love man. I felt your pain.
#10 – Vikings Defeated, until they Weren’t
2022 Week 10 – Minnesota Vikings 33, Buffalo Bills 30 (OT)
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This is just one of the most epic meltdowns imaginable. In the 2022 season, the Bills hosted the Vikings and were up 27-23 with 2:00 left in the game and the Vikings facing a 4th and 18 from deep inside their own territory. From there, a chain of events so improbable unfolded I had to bullet point them:
#9 – A Slow-Motion Disaster Unfolds in Houston
2019 AFC Wild Card Round – Houston Texans 22, Buffalo Bills 19 (OT)
Having given QB Josh Allen some weapons to work with in his second year in the league, the Bills roared to the playoffs in 2019. As much as he admits he can be prone to playing hero-ball still today, it was nothing compared to 2019 in which he made every game must-watch television, with the most spectacular highs and the most devastating lows, often multiples times in the same game.
Wild Josh’s Magnum Opus was the Wildcard game against the Houston Texans, in which the Bills raced out to a 16-0 3rd quarter lead, with Allen putting his body on the line with a gutsy touchdown run early, getting flipped head over heels into the endzone. This Ringer article breaks down the tragi-comedy that followed better than I can, but it involved:
The cherry on sh*t was two Bills converging on Capt. Happy Ending himself, DeSean Watson, in overtime, only for them two both simultaneously bounce off him and he threw for a game-ending completion.
#8 – 24 Seconds
2007 Week 5 – Dallas Cowboys 25, Buffalo Bills 24
In typical Bills fashion, 2007 got off to a nightmare start. Tight end Kevin Everett was paralyzed on a kick return in the opening game against Denver, ending his promising career and the Bills, perhaps worn out emotionally by seeing their brother go down, lost the first 3 games. But, after swapping QB’s for rookie Trent Edwards, the Bills shocked the Jets in week 4, giving the boys in blue some sweet, sweet momentum heading into a Monday Night Football game at home against the Dallas Cowboys, ironically coached by Wade Phillips, who we will hear from much, much later.
The Bills came out hot, riding a fake punt to take an early lead. From there, the defense took over, forcing Cowboys QB Tony Romo into 5 inceptions, including a pick-six, and 1 fumble. In any circumstance, that would mean game over, but these are the Bills we are talking about. When handed the game on a silver platter, they said “nah, we’re good” and gave it right back to Dallas.
With 24 seconds to go and up 24-16, Buffalo gave up a touchdown. Dallas was forced to go for a two-point conversion and Bills cornerback Jabari Greer made a sweet play knocking the ball out of T.O.’s hands, wrapping a Bills wi…wait a minute. The Cowboys have the ball back. The Cowboys are in field goal range. The Cowboys have kicked a game winner! Writing that doesn’t even do what happened justice. An onside kick, pass, and field goal all within seconds. Just an insane meltdown, which dropped them to 1-4 and essentially ended their season.
#7 – McKelvin on Monday Night
2009 Week 1 – New England Patriots 25, Buffalo Bills 24
The Bills were the talk of the NFL in 2009 going into the season, having stunned everyone by landing T.O., claiming he was “leaving America’s Team to come to North America’s Team”. While I never thought that quote made any sense, it was a rallying cry for a team that desperately needed some buzz. And who should they have in week 1? Why, the old nemesis Tom Brady himself on Monday Night Football. Having up to that point only beating Brady once up until that point, things were personal.
Trent-itive Edwards, the most risk-averse quarterback I’ve ever seen, was still quarterbacking the team, but he came roaring out of the gates leading the Bills to a touchdown. At no point until the final two minutes did the Bills trail, and it looked like for once the Football Gods would smile on us instead of Brady. It turns out they were just yanking our chains all along.
Up 24-13 with 2:10 left in the game, the Bills game up a touchdown to tight end Benjamin Watson. No bother – they were still up 24-19 and were going to simply run out the clock. Unfortunately, that was still plenty of time for the Bills to jones the whole thing up. Kick returner Leodis McKelvin received the ensuing kickoff, and instead of taking a knee in the endzone for a touchback and near-certain victory, YOLO’d the whole operation and ran it out. Naturally, he fumbled the ball, giving Tom Brady amazing position to work his magic. Which he did, because he always did. Every. Freaking. Time. The Bills never recovered: head coach Dick Jauron was fired by week 10, and Trent Edwards was benched for Ryan Fitzpatrick. At least there was one cool moment that year: Fitzpatrick’s 98-yard TD to T.O. was awesome.
#6 – Bills can’t Beat Steelers Backups, Miss Playoffs
2004 Week 17 – Pittsburgh Steelers 29, Buffalo Bills 24
A loss that brought this writer to tears as an 8-year-old, this was an all-time choke job. Having started the 2004 season 0-4 and looking dead on arrival, Buffalo churned into life, reeling off a string of 7 wins in 8 games, including 6 straight, coming into a week 17 clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had already clinched the #1 seed in the AFC at 14-1. The offense, led by veteran QB Drew Bledsoe, was unstoppable during that run, topping 30 points in every one of those 6 games while also having one of the NFL’s best defenses. Having dragged themselves back from the brink, all the Bills had to do to make the postseason was beat the Steelers backups at home. About that…
A pick-six by stud cornerback Nate Clements put the Bills up 17-16 in the third quarter after a slow start. While this should have flipped the momentum Buffalo’s way, the Steelers churned out a long, devastating drive with QB Tommy Maddox and rookie 4th string running back Willie Parker, before his famous Super Bowl run, grinding out chunk plays to retake the lead. Needing to respond as the quarter turned from 3 to 4, Bledsoe instead fumbled the ball which was returned for a touchdown by the Steelers, stunning Ralph Wilson Stadium into silence. Suddenly down big with time running out, a Bills touchdown pulled them within 5, but they couldn’t recover the onside kick they needed to win the ball back.
This slow-motion trainwreck of a game came totally out of the blue for a team that had been the hottest in all of football for over a month coming in, facing a team that couldn’t have cared less about winning. This ended Drew Bledsoe’s brief run as Bills QB, and was the closest the Bills came until 2017 to ending The Drought.
#5 – So Close to Super Bowl I
1966 AFL Championship Game – Kansas City Chiefs 31, Buffalo Bills 7
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A little history lesson on this one for those who might not be as familiar with how the Super Bowl came to be. Basically, in the 1960’s, the NFL was an Old Boys Club of rich (white) businessmen who were hell-bent on maintaining control of the league and keeping it at 16 teams. Well, there was another group of rich (white) men who weren’t too happy about missing out on the fun, so they invented a league of their own, the American Football League or AFL. For several years, the two leagues fought over TV deals, player contracts, and how professional football should be played. Eventually, the gauntlet was thrown down: the two leagues would have a season-ending game, the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, to determine the best of the best for several years until the leagues would eventually merge into the modern-day NFL. That game would soon be known as…the Super Bowl!
Why go through all that? Well, the story of the Buffalo Bills (and heartbreak) is closely tied to this footballing history. In 1964 and 1965, the Bills won the only two titles in their history, beating the San Diego Chargers back-to-back to claim AFL championships. Those also happened to be the last two years before the Super Bowl, the first one of which was scheduled to be played at the end of the 1966 season. And what do you know, but an aging Bills squad with a new coach claws its way back to the AFL title game against the Kansas City Chiefs, with a little bit more on the line that year.
The crumbling and ancient War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo was bouncing from the kickoff to see the Bills claim the berth in the Super Bowl. The moment the ball soared into the chilly Winter air, the most successful period in team history ended: the Bills fumbled the opening kick-off, leading to a Chiefs touchdown. The Bills did briefly try to mount a fight: Quarterback Jack Kemp hit Wide Receiver Elbert “Golden Wheels” Dubenion for a touchdown to tie the score at the end of the 1st Quarter, but the wind blew out of the sails after that. When the dust settled, the Chiefs were Super Bowl bound. The Bills Golden Era had been peaked a year too soon.
#4 – One Last Chance at Glory Slips Away
Super Bowl XXVIII – Dallas Cowboys 30, Buffalo Bills 13
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With Wide Right in Super Bowl XXV being the defining moment of the 90’s Bills, it slips under the radar just how agonizingly close they came to finally claiming their championship rings 3 years later. With their 4th straight shot at a Super Bowl, the Bills put together solid early play and Thurman Thomas’ touchdown combined with 2 field goals had Buffalo up 13-6 at the half. The second half became a 30-minute showcase of how it truly is the hope that kills you.
The moment Thomas’ fumble was returned by the Cowboys for a touchdown at the start of the 3rd quarter, a feeling of déjà vu crept through the stadium. With the momentum flipped and their opponents battling their Super Bowl demons, the Cowboys pounced. After the Bills punted, the Cowboys took the lead 20-13 and added 10 more before the clock hit 0:00. For the first and only time, a team had lost 4 super bowls in a row. How can a team be so good until the final game of the year?
#3 – The Music City Miracle Illegal Forward Pass
1999 AFC Wild Card Game – Tennessee Titans 22, Buffalo Bills 16
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Let’s get this cleared up straight away: sorry Titans fans, it was a forward pass. I don’t care how many camera angles have looked at it or how many fancy computer programs have tracked the ball’s trajectory, or even that this makes me look like an unhinged conspiracy theorist, but it’s true. I don’t make the rules.
The story goes like this: Bills Kicker Steve Christie made what everyone knew was the game-winning field goal to put the Bills up 16-15 with 16 piddly seconds left to play. Down to their last roll of the dice, the Titans drew up an elaborate kickoff return strategy nicknamed “Home Run Throwback” in which one player, Frank Wycheck, would receive the ball and run to one edge of the field. As players ran to tackle him, he would then throw the ball backwards (a lateral, as it is called) to his teammate Kevin Dyson, who is standing on the other side of the field ideally wide open.
This is where the writer interjects and goes on an angry rant about how the Bills should never have even been in this situation. Because it’s true: they shouldn’t have been. The Bills starting QB in 1998 was a legend named Doug Flutie, who stood about 4 feet tall and was nearly 40 years old. Yet Flutie had that dawg in him like few others have ever had, grinding out win after win en route to going 10-5. The last week of the regular season, head coach Wade Phillips sat his starters out, as Buffalo had already clinched a playoff spot. Rob Johnson, the backup quarterback, had a lights out performance that endeared him to Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. This is where things get really juicy: Wilson then apparently goes to visit Phillips and ~suggests~ that he stick with Rob Johnson for the playoffs. Caught in a pickle, Phillips gives into his boss and starts Rob Johnson.
Johnson was by all accounts a very talented football player who never meshed well with Bills Mafia; his laid-back attitude contrasted with his colleague Flutie, who played every down like it was life or death. Johnson had a horrendous game against Tennessee, completing 10 of 22 passes and getting sacked for a safety. Had Flutie been in as he should have been, the game might well have been out of sight. It wasn’t, and when the Titans executed their “Home Run Throwback” and Dyson ran untouched into the end zone for a last second walk off touchdown, the Football Gods had made the Bills their b*tch again.
But wait! Wycheck’s pass to Dyson totally did looked to have traveled forwards, which is a violation of the rules on kickoffs. This sent the play to instant replay, which had just been introduced into football. The referee, who was totally not at all intimidated by the ~encouragement~ being hurled in his direction by 70,000 Tennesseans, determined that the ball traveled backwards, total BS that gave the Titans the victory.
Thus ended the Bills Super Bowl era, as the final links to those teams, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed, all left the team after this game. It also began The Drought, 17 long dark seasons in which January football couldn’t pierce the Upstate New York snow.
#2 – 13 Seconds
2021 AFC Divisional Round – Kansas City Chiefs 42, Buffalo Bills 36 (OT)
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I will go to my grave believing that if the Bills won this game, they were going to lift the Lombardi Trophy 3 weeks later. They were playing football on a level I’ve never seen before. The story was this: having lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game the year prior, the Bills bumbled and stumbled their way through most of the 2021 regular season before catching fire in the playoffs, scoring a touchdown on every drive in a beatdown of the Patriots that was the best therapy session I’ve ever attended. Once again visiting Kansas City in the Divisional Round, Josh Allen and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes provided a duel for the ages. If I was a neutral fan, I would vote this as the greatest football game I’ve ever seen, but as a Bills masochist, it royally sucked.
Both offenses were simply unstoppable as the game wore on and the defenses tired. Down 26-21 with 2:00 left in the game facing a 4th down, Allen threw a massive 27-yard TD to wide receiver Gabe Davis to take the lead. Mahomes answered right back with a quick slant to the cheetah, Tyreek Hill, who took it to the house to restore the Chiefs lead. With only 1:02 left on the clock, Allen refused to wilt and led the Bills down to the Chiefs 19-yard line before connecting on yet another TD to Gabe Davis. Now with only 13 seconds left on the clock, all the Bills had to do was squib kick the kickoff (basically bunt it along the ground to take time off), then stop one play. The Bills brain trust got together and decided nah, they would rather add some sizzle. They kicked it off, allowing the Chiefs to take a touchback and keep the time on the clock. From there, either Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier or Head Coach Sean McDermott made the galaxy-brained decision to play prevent defense, allowing the Chiefs to gain two quick completions and get into field goal range. The die was cast: Harrison Butker drilled a kick to send the game into overtime, where it was apparent whoever won the coin toss was winning the game. This being the Bills, the outcome of said coin flip and in turn the game was never really in question.
Sure enough, Kansas City won the toss and the game with little resistance. The Bills were left to pick up the pieces after Josh Allen had thrown 9 touchdowns to 0 interceptions in two postseason games that year. I’m not sure they’ve ever truly recovered from the trauma of this one.
#1 – Wide Right
Super Bowl XXV – New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 19
Embed from Getty ImagesThere really is no other pick. It had to be this. The Music City Miracle Forward Pass was a bigger collapse, but it was on Wild-Card Weekend. There was a long way to go even if they had held on. 13 Seconds was more shocking, but also still only in the Divisional Round with a tough Bengals team waiting up next. The number one choice had to be the closest the city of Buffalo have ever gotten to lifting the Lombardi Trophy.
Despite their preparation looking more like partying, the Bills had a halftime lead in their first Super Bowl over the underdog New York Giants, who were fielding a backup QB named Jeff Hostetler. Unfortunately, the Bills were up against the Bill’s, being Giants Head Coach Bill Parcells and Defensive Coordinator Bill “Darth Hoodie” Belichick who cooked up a masterful plan to hold the ball as long as possible to limit how many chances the high-powered Bills offense would get to score. Trailing 20-19 with two minutes to go, Jim Kelly gamely drove the Bills to the Giants 29-yard line before the clock got dangerously low. With 8 seconds left to play, Buffalo was forced to leave their fate in the foot of their kicker in one do-or-die field goal attempt.
Scott Norwood, the Bills kicker, was an extremely accurate kicker with a much shorter range than modern kickers. The kick, a 47-yard field goal, was longer than he had ever made on a grass field. With the Bills sideline all holding hands in prayer, Norwood unleased a rocket that had more than enough distance. The problem: the kick drifted Wide Right of the goal posts. Game over, just like that.
If you’ve never seen the ESPN 30 for 30 Four Falls of Buffalo, I will tell you that watching Norwood relive that moment and break down in tears trying to describe what happened is truly gut-wrenching. As the rest of his teammates have rightfully said through the years, it should never have come down to that moment. But it did, and Wide Right is now written in capital letters.
Notes
- maybe ↩︎
Honorable Mention had me in tears. Great stuff!
Still can’t believe we lost to the MILF hunter. Unreal.
Thanks boss! Dem ‘Boys look unstoppable right now.