Is it safe to believe in the Buffalo Bills again? - ESPN

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen sat in his postgame news conference after a stunning last-minute loss to the Denver Broncos on Nov. 13 with his hat pulled low, covering his eyes at times.

«Sucks, shouldn't have been in that position in the first place,» Allen said. «A lot of bad football, a lot of bad football.»

The Bills were 5-5. With one of the league's toughest schedules still to come, the notion of reaching the playoffs, let alone winning the AFC East title, seemed to be a long shot. The next morning, offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was fired, and quarterbacks coach Joe Brady was hired to the role on an interim basis.

The team had lost four of its previous six and only scored 25 points once over that stretch. Defensive injuries were noticeable, and things were not clicking.

The tone surrounding this team just over a month and four games later couldn't be more different. The Bills are coming off wins over the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys, considered among the best teams in the league, and now at 8-6 have three games — at the Chargers, vs. the Patriots and at the Dolphins — to make the playoffs. The division is once again in sight with the Bills sitting two games back of Miami.

Entering Week 14, the Bills had a 21% chance to make the playoffs, per ESPN Analytics. That figure is now at 64%. The team has won eight straight games in December since 2021, the second-longest active streak behind the Bengals (nine) and the longest such streak in franchise history.

"[Just winning is] what it comes down to," Allen said this week. «Again, just trusting the guys in this locker room, I feel like it's a situation we've been in before and just using that previous experience that we have to carry us over.»

But with the