The Morning After: The Bills overachieved… and at the perfect time

It’s an easy thing to say the Bills will be back here again in 2021. It’s not that groundbreaking of a stretch to compare them to the team from 1988.

While Josh Allen and Sean McDermott can mention exactly that and everyone can think it on the outside looking in, there’s a lot of work that has to go back into it in order for Buffalo get back into next season’s AFC Championship game. Just saying “we’ll be back” holds little weight, remember that.

We also saw that the Kansas City Chiefs outclassed the Bills, not just once in 38-24 fashion on Sunday, but twice this season. Kansas City has done exactly that to multiple other teams as well.

With all that reality out of the way, let’s get to some more realistic things that are more positive in general.

Did you see Buffalo making it all the way to the AFC Championship game this season? If no, thanks for being honest, if yes, stop lying. No one did.

The Bills, a 13-3 team in the regular season, massively overachieved from the realistic goals many set for the team a year ago.

A huge chunk of that had to do with the emergence of their quarterback… and again, if you’re going to tell us you thought Allen would play at a near-MVP level in 2020? Please, again, stop lying. No one saw it coming.

The goal for the 2020 Bills was to win a playoff game. After losing in the postseason in 2017 to the Jaguars and 2019 to the Texans. The goal… well, realistic goal… was to win a playoff game.

Just one.

The AFC East championship was fun, but next step on the ladder wasn’t that. It was… win a… win or go home game. Buffalo didn’t do that, they did that twice and then they hosted both of those games if we’re looking to point out something a little bit sweeter along the way.

Now setting some realistic expectations for 2021, we’re expecting this unexpected ride from this year to be on the docket again. As the Chiefs eloquently put it… “run it back.”

But before setting that lofty goal, be thankful for the Bills did in 2020. Really the answer there starts and ends with the year mentioned.

Buffalo overachieved and became the feel-good story in the NFL, and perhaps all of sports, in what’ll go down as the worst year in many of our lives. There’s zero shame in admitting that. Remember, most things start as a feel-good moment… even Tom Brady did.

COVID-19 rocked the country and the world. Regardless of what sideline you stand on politically… it also wasn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy feeling in the regard, either. The list from 2020 goes on and on. It was the year that seemingly would never end.

This recent Bills loss will sting, but hey, the Bills emerging as a top team in league came at the perfect time, didn’t it? Imagine going through all of that… as say… a Jets fan? The Bills gave a sense of hope to their fans in an otherwise waste of year with their overachieving.

So onward to 2021 for them and everyone that went along for the ride that briefly gave us an all-important mental and emotional break from the world around us… but maybe nest year the rest of world and life as we previous knew it could “run it back” as well…?

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