Under new leadership and revamped personnel, Buffalo must transition from perennial contenders to champions by fortifying their defense and providing Josh Allen the support needed to finish.
For the Buffalo Bills, simply winning the AFC East or making the playoffs is no longer the goal. This is a team that has come so close to reaching the Super Bowl so many times that anything short is viewed as a disappointment by not only the team, but many in the fan base.
The constant heartbreak reached a boiling point last season, with the Bills firing head coach Sean McDermott after falling to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional round.
Now, Joe Brady enters his first year as head coach, but that doesn't mean the goal has changed. Buffalo has a roster that it believes can contend for a Super Bowl in 2026, and they expect to be playing football deep into January again.
But fans have seen this song and dance before. There's a lot of concern surrounding the roster and whether or not the pieces in place can actually get the job done. The Bills have plenty of reasons to be hopeful that they can finally win the Super Bowl, but these are three things that need to happen for that hope to become reality.
The Defense Needs to Become a Championship-Level Unit
Over the last eight years, the Bills haven't had any truly bad defenses. In fact, there have been years where it's been the league's best scoring defense or best passing defense. However, it always feels like we're talking about the defense not making the plays it needs to in the big moments when discussing why season's end.
Buffalo does not need to have the league's top-ranked defense to win a championship. With Allen leading the offense, the Bills simply need a defense capable of making the critical stops against elite quarterbacks in January.
The additions of Bradley Chubb and rookies like Kaleb Elarms-Orr and T.J. Parker, along with the arrival of Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator, give Buffalo new pieces and a new direction. The biggest question is whether that translates into a unit that can hold up against the AFC's best offenses.
Buffalo's Offense Playmakers Have to Help Josh Allen
For years, Buffalo's offense has relied on Josh Allen to make the impossible possible. After all, there's a reason he's often been referred to as Superman and is regarded as the best quarterback in the NFL.
Still, he's only one man. The Bills have had players step up here and there over the years, but it's often been just one player a season. This year, Buffalo needs more than just a James Cook to emerge as an offensive star.
Dalton Kincaid has to stay healthy and on the field. Keon Coleman needs to grow up and be the player the Bills drafted him to be. DJ Moore needs to show that all the chatter of his best years being behind him is just noise.
Teams will continue to target Allen more and more as the season goes on. It's up to the playmakers to make the big play.
Find a Way to Close Tight Games
Say what you want about the team, but none of Buffalo's recent playoff losses, aside from the drubbing to Cincinnati, have been one-sided affairs.
The Bills have been in a position to win games at the end. Here are Buffalo's last five playoff losses:
- 2025: 33-30 in OT to Denver
- 2024: 32-29 to Kansas City
- 2023: 27-24 to Kansas City
- 2022: 27-10 to Cincinnatti
- 2021: 42-36 in OT to Kansas City
The last three losses have all been by three points, and the Bills have had the ball with a chance to win late in the fourth quarter of each game. Whether it's a missed kick, dropped pass, or missed targets by Allen, there's always been something that keeps Buffalo from getting the win.
That has to end.
The Bills need to find a way to make that one more play needed to win. That means converting third downs late in games. It means finishing drives with touchdowns instead of field goals. It means avoiding the costly mistakes that allow teams to stay alive.
That ability is what separates the great teams from the "what could've beens". Right now, the Bills are on the wrong side of that.
