The Buffalo Bills’ history has been one of almost constant disappointment for their fans. From 1991 to 1994, with Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly leading the team, the Bills became the only team in NFL history to make the Super Bowl in four straight seasons. They lost all four.
The Bills have not been to the Super Bowl since and, in fact, have not seen a championship since winning back-to-back titles in the American Football League in 1964 and 1965, the fifth and sixth years of the now-defunct league’s existence.
But with another future Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm in 2018 first-round draft pick Josh Allen, the Bills have seen their best opportunities for a championship since the Kelly era. And yet, other than five straight AFC East titles from 2020 through 2024, Buffalo still has no trophy to show for it.
On Sunday, the Bills return to the playoffs for the seventh straight year and the eighth time in the last nine seasons following a stretch of 17 years out of the running. The pressure on Buffalo to make this their championship season at last must be higher than ever. So what’s going to happen?
On Thursday, a top NFL expert for ESPN spelled it all out in what has to be seen as a bold prediction for the Bills’ postseason.
Bills Win Wild Card Round, Expert Predicts
The prediction comes from Bill Barnwell, senior NFL writer for ESPN.com, who, according to his own biography on the site, “analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet.”
If that’s true, his predictions must carry considerable weight, and Barnwell sees the Bills, who finished 12-5 this season, starting their postseason run on wild-card weekend with a thrilling 28-24 victory over the 13-4, AFC South-winning Jacksonville Jaguars.
“This is the game of the weekend for me, as we’ll get Josh Allen with a week of rest for his ailing foot against Trevor Lawrence in the best form of his career,” Barnwell wrote, noting that the Bills enter the road game against Jacksonville as narrow 1 1/2-point favorites.
But the ESPN.com expert believes the Bills’ formidable tight end corps will be the difference in the game.
“The Jaguars have been a much better defense against teams that go lighter than against teams that use multiple tight ends, and the Bills are going to bring Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes onto the field,” Barnwell wrote. “The Bills win in a shootout.”
AFC Championship Game Against Longtime Rival
The Bills played in an AFC East dominated by the New England Patriots from 2001 through 2019, when head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots to nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships. Then, following Brady’s departure from the Patriots, the Bills ruled the division for five years.
But in 2025, the Patriots are back, winning the AFC East yet again, this time with coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye running the show.
And yet, the Bills and Patriots have met in the postseason only twice in the 66 years of each team’s existence — once in the AFL’s 1962 divisional round and then more than a half-century later in the wild-card round in the 2021 season.
Barnwell predicts the rivals meeting a third time, this one in the AFC Championship Game with a Super Bowl trip on the line. In this rubber match, Barnwell says he is “not confident the Pats can stop Allen for four quarters.”
The Bills win, according to the ESPN prognosticator, by a narrow 31-27 tally and advance to …
Bills’ First Super Bowl in 31 Years
Finally, the Bills return to the Super Bowl, where they face the Los Angeles Rams. That’s how Barnwell sees it, anyway. So what happens? How does this greatest Buffalo postseason in more than three decades conclude for the star-crossed franchise?
“This would be a nightmare of a matchup for the Bills’ biggest weakness, pitting the worst run defense in the postseason against one of the most efficient and consistent rushing attacks of the past decade,” Barnwell wrote. “Allen has turned the ball over and taken sacks more often this season, and while he is capable of being the best player on the planet in any single game, I’m not certain he can single-handedly beat the better team in this matchup.”
Not good news for the Bills, whose season ends in disappointment yet again, according to Barnwell.
The final score of Super Bowl 60 in Barnwell’s prediction: Rams 38, Bills 34.
Bills Hit With Bold Prediction on How Postseason Ends From Top Expert