The Buffalo Bills are clearly a championship contender, but they need their defense to deliver in crunch time.
That was the assessment of NFL.com writer Jeffri Chadiha, who called Buffalo’s biggest challenge “being reliable on defense when it matters most.”
Buffalo has won double-digit games in six consecutive seasons and has finished atop the AFC East five straight years. Yet, it fell in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time in five years — and had its season ended by Patrick Mahomes and KC for the fourth time in that span.
Why Is Buffalo’s Defense The Team’s Biggest Challenge?
Chadiha named the biggest challenge for each of the 32 NFL teams in a post that was unearthed Tuesday. With Buffalo, he got a little creative, since the Bills defense has finished in the top-half of the NFL every year since 2019, yet somehow they can’t quite tighten up in the playoffs.
“The Bills have been championship contenders for each of the last five seasons, but a similar theme annually seems to emerge: Their defense falls apart in the playoffs,” Chadiha wrote. “That can’t be the case again for a team that has plenty of reasons to believe it can finally get past the Kansas City Chiefs for AFC supremacy.”
Of course, Buffalo has a loaded offense — despite its recent rash of injuries to its wide receiver corps — led by reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen. The Bills defense appears loaded to match this season, especially based on their off-season additions.
“The Bills have added new faces to the defensive front, both through free agency (edge rusher Joey Bosa and interior DLs Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi,” Chadiha wrote. “They bolstered the secondary by using a first-round pick on cornerback Maxwell Hairston and reuniting with veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White. All in all, it looks promising on paper.”
The Bills have scored at least 24 points in each of their four playoff losses to the Chiefs and are averaging 28 points per playoff game since the 2020 season. Yet, somehow they still haven’t won the AFC since 1993.
“The bigger question — for a team that has allowed an average of 33.2 points to opponents in its last five playoff losses,” Chadiha wrote, “is how [the Bills defense] will look come January.”
What Did Jeffri Chadiha Say About The Bills As A Super Bowl Contender?
Chadiha has not minced words about the Bills as a Super Bowl contender, dating back to the spring when he predicted Buffalo to hoist the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California.
“This is bold simply because the Bills have dealt with so much heartache over the last five seasons,” Chadiha wrote. “This team has too much talent and smart coaching to continually miss out on opportunities to get over the hump, which is why this prediction makes so much sense today.”
Chadiha cited Buffalo’s easy schedule, especially since it will play 10 games against sub-.500 teams in 2024, which could set the Bills up to finally wrestle the AFC’s No. 1 seed from the reigning three-time conference champion Chiefs.
“There’s basically never been a better time for the Bills to earn the top seed in the AFC and potentially host a conference championship game,” Chadiha wrote. “If they can do that, they should win the whole thing.”
NFL Insider Deems Bills Defense Their Biggest Challenge