BY: DANFORD
It is a truth universally acknowledged that 2020 has been the worst year in recent history. It took so much and gifted us with so little. It acted like a bad first date, ordering an economies’ worth of food and not bothering to chip in for the bill. 2020 would have taken the Gold Medal for ‘Worst Year Ever’ in the Olympics…except that it cancelled them. In general, this year was straight-up not a great time – but, as many people have discovered, there is something worthwhile to be found in its bad behavior.
For Western New York, that discovery was trust. Trust, not only in the process, but in our prospects as a sports force to be reckoned with – the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.
Look around. Scroll through Twitter after you read this. In between the more stressful aspects of 2020, you’ll find the Buffalo Bills being hailed as the #1 football team in the NFL. You’ll find Josh Allen in the MVP discussion. You’ll even find some fans in front of this new national treasure:
The billboard says it clearly – Bills fans are the best fans in football. Heck, I’d extend that to all sports. What makes 2020 such a pivotal year for us dedicated fans is how we have responded to heartbreaking defeat, severe disconnect from our team (i.e going to the game, tailgating, watch parties, etc.), and, well, our team finally being good. And what a rollercoaster ride this year has been.
Do you remember how this year started? It wasn’t with COVID-19.
It was with the Wild Card overtime loss to the Houston Texans in early January.
Watching that game single-handedly took a year off my life because of the intense, stress-induced panic attack I had from the second half onward. I had never truly felt heartbreak until Houston’s field goal was good. Like all Bills fans, 2020 did not start off on the right foot. The trust we held in our team wavered – were we meant to be nothing more than a ‘one-and-done’ playoff team?
When this season began, we were cautiously optimistic as always – the hype had been sufficiently built. Stefon Diggs joined the Bills, rumors flew of Josh Allen drastically improving, and our defense was still outstanding. The team seemed destined for greatness – but we’ve been there before. What misfortunes were to befall us this time? Surely, 2020 would be the year where our hopes and dreams are officially squashed forever…right?
Wrong.
For the first time in a long time, the Buffalo Bills truly exceeded their expectations for the season. They didn’t falter. They won the AFC East, like they were supposed to. As it stands, they have a chance at the #2 seed in the AFC and a shot at tying the franchise record for wins in a season. They played great football, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1990s. There was no B.S this year.
Now, how many of you thought that was actually going to happen? I certainly didn’t.
As fans, we had to build trust in our team for what felt like the entirety of the season. The first game against the NY Jets was a ‘test’ to see if we could beat an NFL team this year. Playing the LA Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and Pittsburgh Steelers were ‘tests’ to see if we could defeat the ‘good’ NFL teams. Taking down the New England Patriots was a ‘test’ to see if we were truly meant to be AFC East division champions, etc. etc. etc.
Despite almost every game ‘testing’ the Bills in some fashion, they won nearly all of them. Along the way, our weathered skepticism we held so dearly began to crack. All of a sudden, winning games began to feel ‘normal.’ We no longer craved an Act of God to defeat the ‘good’ teams in the league. Instead, we’re having discussions about whether we should sit players or secure the #2 seed – 3 years ago, we had heated debates on whether to fire our head coach, GM, or both.
2020 has certainly brought a lot of uncertainty and stress into our lives, a lot of which is not quite settled yet – but when we look back on this year down the road, hindsight 20/20 will tell us that this was the year everything changed for the Buffalo Bills. This was the year we metamorphized from a lackluster football team with average talent into a dangerous playoff contender with a shot at the hardware.
So break out the champagne tonight and belt out the Shout song at midnight – the Buffalo Bills are dangerous again.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports.com