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The first year without kryptonite
Buffalo Bills: If not now, then when?
The hunt for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy begins this weekend for 14 teams. Among them – once again – the Buffalo Bills. Led by quarterback Josh Allen, the reigning “most valuable player in the league”, the Bills are not going into the postseason as clear favorites and have to play away to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round. Nevertheless, one question above all else outshines the ambitions, or even expectations, in Buffalo: If not now, then when?
It is well known that there is an optimal time for some things in life. These things happen the way they are supposed to happen – and they are worth waiting for. In the case of the Buffalo Bills, however, this claim now borders on farce. The East Coast franchise has been waiting for the next championship since 1965 – even before the introduction of the Super Bowl. Excluding the years 1991 to 1994, they have never been as close as in recent years.
With the emergence of Josh Allen as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, the Bills firmly established themselves as one of the top teams in the AFC. They have been crowned division champions over the past six seasons and have repeatedly knocked on the door of the NFL elite. The result, however, remained unsatisfactory. This year everything should be different. Maybe it has to.
The first year without kryptonite
Let’s start with an illustrative comparison: What explanation would Superman have had for not being able to stop all the evil in the universe if there had been no kryptonite? Correct. No. If you now take this comparison and apply it to Buffalo’s playoff season, you get the same answer: There are no excuses. Because while the Bills are preparing for their duel with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the three biggest competitors of recent years, the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, are already in the offseason. For Josh Allen, this means that he doesn’t have to duel with Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow or – above all – Patrick Mahomes. In particular, Mahomes and his Chiefs, who were responsible for ending the Bills’ seasons the last three years, pose no threat in 2025.
Of course, this is not meant to discredit the competition Buffalo faces on the AFC side. However, for the first time ever, you go into the playoffs knowing that you have the quarterback advantage in no matter what matchup. Nick Wright explained this at First Things First: “People rightly expect Allen to go to Jacksonville and beat Trevor Lawrence. Just like he should be superior to Bo Nix in Denver. […] What is the match-up in which Josh Allen can NOT be expected to lead his team to victory despite a weaker roster?”
The curse of the away playoff game
Viewed objectively, there is little going for Buffalo in the Wild Card game against Jacksonville: They are facing a team away from home that has won 13 games this season, most recently eight in a row, and has a quarterback in Lawrence who has shown some of the best quarterback play in the entire league over the last month. To make matters worse, the Bills haven’t won a playoff game on foreign turf in 33 years. Yes, you read that right, 33 years old. A curse that they now have to break not just once, but several times if they are to finally achieve the first Super Bowl triumph in franchise history this year.
A look at the other side of the coin gives hope: With running back James Cook, they have the newly crowned rushing leader in their ranks. In addition, there is the statistically best pass defense, the 12th best scoring defense and a top 10 offense. Buffalo is not a powerhouse, not a clear favorite. However, it seems like the only thing that could stop them this postseason is themselves. Especially when the competitive field consists of newcomers to the playoffs, inexperienced playmakers or teams with less athletic quality. And after the emotional farewell to Highmark Stadium, where the Bills played their last home game last weekend, there should also be the emotional pressure to act to bring this year to an appropriate end. Because, Buffalo, if not now, when?
The clock is ticking against Josh Allen
That final question is also directed at the aforementioned reigning MVP. The 29-year-old bears the ungrateful title of the only quarterback in NFL history with six or more playoff victories without having been in the Super Bowl once. And although its rivals from Baltimore, Cincinnati and Kansas City are already preparing for next season, 2025 was perhaps the first indicator that a new era is coming in the AFC. A timeline, a reality in which it becomes obvious that at least one of the quarterbacks mentioned who have characterized the last few years will end his career without a championship ring.
Because even if it cannot be assumed that Patrick Mahomes will again have a stranglehold on the conference like he did until last season, the possibility that he will reach a final at least once in his career should at least be taken into account. There are also Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence and younger quarterbacks who will be coming into the league in the next year or two. They all fight for the one place per year; for one chance at a Super Bowl. In other words, the field is not thinning, but rather becoming narrower, more competitive, and more opaque. As a result, Josh Allen’s path to success is getting tougher – and his chance has perhaps never been greater than this year.
