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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills entered their bye week on a positive note.
A 30-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs handed the team’s AFC rival their first loss of the year and kept the No. 1 seed in the conference very much in play. Quarterback Josh Allen‘s game-winning 26-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-2 accentuated his run at MVP.
The win was significant, there was no denying that. Much of the team’s emphasis, however, was on the game simply serving as a regular season win against a strong AFC opponent — knowing the Chiefs could be a looming threat in the postseason. There is still plenty of season left for a Bills team off to its best start since 1993 (9-2).
“It means we got to nine wins,” Allen said of the meaning behind the win over the Chiefs. “From perception, outside perception, it’s a really big game and what it means for both fan bases and the league. We’re in Week 11. You know, we’re 9-2. Last time I checked, nine wins probably doesn’t get you in the playoffs. So going into this bye week, get to enjoy ourselves a little bit. But coming back ready, a hungry team, just trying to go 1-0.”
Allen’s right, nine didn’t get the Bills in the 2024 NFL playoffs. But 10 wins — with a bit of help — just might. If the Miami Dolphins lose to the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving, the Bills can punch their ticket with a win over the San Francisco 49ers (8:20 p.m. EST, NBC) at home on Sunday night. Buffalo coach Sean McDermott has not lost a game coming off a bye week since becoming head coach in 2017.
Beyond that, the Bills have a real chance of earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC — something that has eluded McDermott’s Bills despite making the playoffs all but one year since 2017. Given the way this team has surpassed outside expectations all season, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the top seeds is in the cards.
“There [were] a lot of questions about our team coming into this season. A lot of turnover,” McDermott said last week. “…I just think that we were able to do a good job adding some personnel, and then coaches developing some of the young players who were onboarded early here. We’ve kind of weathered the storm with some injuries, getting through some of that kind of chapter of the book to this point as well.
“And so, it’s kind of been all hands on deck, teamwork and working as a team and everyone doing their part, really.”
Since 2002, there have been three instances of a team clinching a division with five or more games remaining — and all three of those reached the Super Bowl before losing. The last team to do so was the 2009 Indianapolis Colts, who went on to lose to the Saints in Super Bowl XLIV.
The earliest the Bills have clinched their division since the 1970 merger is Nov. 20, 1988 (Week 12, with four games remaining). They went on to lose to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship that season. The 2007 Patriots, who started 11-0 to clinch the AFC East, were the earliest to sew up a spot.
If the Bills do clinch in Week 13, it would be the team’s fifth straight AFC East title, just years removed from a historic playoff-less streak. The team has three divisional games still to come — a home-and-home with the Patriots and at home against the Jets.
The Chiefs (10-1) hold a half-game lead for the No. 1 seed entering Week 13. To surpass them, the Bills will need to navigate a stretch including three straight NFC opponents also contending for playoff spots — vs. the 49ers, at the Los Angeles Rams and at the Detroit Lions.
Kansas City has games remaining against each of the teams in the AFC West, in addition to facing the two other division leaders in the conference in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans.
It should be noted that while getting the bye week and homefield advantage is the goal — especially for a Bills team that is 5-0 at home this season — four of the eight No. 1 seeds since 2020 reached the Super Bowl. The 2023 Chiefs are an example of a team that didn’t need the No. 1 seed, winning at Buffalo and Baltimore en route to the Super Bowl LVIII title. Whoever travels to Buffalo this season would have to contend with a Bills team that has scored 30-plus points in each of their first five home games this season, one shy of tying the second-longest streak to begin a season in NFL history.
Once injury-riddled, the Bills begin this final stretch of the regular season in better health. Rookie defensive tackle DeWayne Carter (wrist) is eligible to come off injured reserve, linebacker Matt Milano (biceps) has returned to practice and the team is expecting to get back defensive end Dawuane Smoot (wrist) later in the season — Smoot is eligible to come off injured reserve in two weeks. Tight end Dalton Kincaid (ankle) and wide receivers Amari Cooper (wrist) and Keon Coleman (wrist) are all on the mend.
Continuing course will be key for a team that has shown plenty of success when it gets cold — a league-best 19-2 in the regular season in December and January since 2020 — as it seeks to claim the AFC East and much more.
Source: www.espn.com