I surprised myself with the volume of the sigh I let out as the TV cut to the same Josh Allen thousand-yard stare I’ve seen year after year. In the lead-up to the game, my mantra was “they’re due to win one of these, Kansas City can’t keep this up forever. The teams are too evenly matched”. (Yes, I’m aware of the Gambler’s Fallacy, but logic stands no chance against a sticky narrative).

As I hugged my friends goodbye, I said “We’ll get ‘em next year”. In the car on the way home, I thought about what that really meant. There will be a whole offseason of waiting before we get the privilege of starting over again. By next September, everyone will be on equal footing and the wins of this season will mean nothing. What was this campaign for?

But maybe that’s a blessing. Maybe it’s a way to quiet the voice in the back of my head pleading “how does this keep happening”? I hear the offseason chatter – the narrative writing about Josh Allen and the Bills who just can’t seem to get it done. The team that lived in the shadow of the Patriots only to move out into the shadow of the Chiefs.

But as endless as it may have seemed, eventually we did overcome the Patriots – and honestly? I’d be lying if I said I just get fired up for those games like I used to when it was Brady behind center. Sports media is obsessed with legacies and records but only insomuch as they are a way to quantify the present. It hurts when those narratives get validated because it ties you down to the past and prevents you from looking forward.

As much as it feels like starting from zero, that’s not exactly true. The record might not carry over, but many of the players will. In a year of flux, the Bills showed their resistance to change (perhaps to a fault, re: KC). Allen proved that he wasn’t a Diggs-merchant. The offensive line maintained its high level of performance despite departures. The end of the seven-year Hyde-Poyer partnership didn’t spell doom for the secondary. There are fewer questions entering this offseason than any in recent memory.

In 2022, after the Bills second consecutive loss to the Chiefs in the playoffs, I wrote in to my favorite podcast, The Bruce Exclusive, full of emotion. I closed it by saying something I stand by: “Whether or not anyone else believes in this team, I know the performance I saw on Sunday night was put on by a team good enough to run with anyone. I’m sticking by them – Super Bowl or Bust”.

Go Bills.