“I’m sorry it had to be us.” Patrick Mahomes’ heartfelt apology after the AFC Championship game perfectly encapsulated what everyone’s thinking about. Another lost opportunity for the Buffalo Bills. Another year of heartbreak for Josh Allen. Ever since the California native joined the team as a seventh overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, he had a big responsibility on his shoulders—secure the Bills’ first ever Super Bowl title in franchise history. However, that’s easier said than done. Especially when the Kansas City Chiefs stand in your way.

Notably, Mahomes’ team has ended the Bills’ postseason dreams for a staggering fourth time in the last five years (in the AFC Championship in the 2020 season, and in the divisional rounds during the 2021 and 2023 seasons). No wonder the distress in the Sean McDermott-led locker room was as dire. And Josh Allen? He looked almost close to tears in a post-game press conference. The 28-year-old was even seen taking deep breaths, as if to regulate his emotions before the media address.

When asked how he handles the repeated failures, the QB said during his last press conference of the 2024 season. “Yeah, it sucks. You keep going back and thinking about what you could have done differently…Plays even throughout the game, it’s something that’s so little, but dropping the snap on that 2 & 6, turning into a 3rd and 9 where I probably catch the ball and I dart it to a coup and it’s 3rd and 1 instead of 3rd and 9. Things that, again, it’s not going to be in the stat sheet, but, as a competitor, I think of those things of like, ‘Man, only if, if I could have done this differently’.” That’s right. There were two 3rd & 9 plays in the game.

While the opening drive in the 2nd quarter ended with a touchdown as he ultimately found RB James Cook, their 2nd drive in the game, in the 4th quarter, still haunted him. At the 5:12 mark, Josh Allen fumbled a snap on 2 & 5 before recovering it. The next play was 3 & 9. And they could only gain 4 yards on that. It ended with Tyler Bass’ field goal to make the score 3-7. The Chiefs started the game with a bang by scoring a TD on their first drive.

It shifted the entire momentum. Bills lost 4 of 7 games in the 2024 season when they failed to score a touchdown in the 1st quarter. And Patrick Mahomes & co. never made a mistake. Other than the 3rd quarter, which ended in the Bills’ favor with 22-21, the Chiefs ended the previous two quarters with a lead, ultimately winning the game. In the 4th quarter, it came down to 4 & 5 at the 2-minute warning.

Josh Allen made a pass to the TE Dalton Kincaid, who failed to hold on to the ball. That mistake entirely shifted the dynamics. The clock ticked away. As the Bills’ QB rightly said, “To be the champs, you gotta beat the champs.”

Having said that, the quarterback also seemed hopeful of the future. At one point, he stated, “You’re not promised opportunities like that all the time. You’re not promised to get into the playoffs each and every year and, again, you can’t just knock on the door, you got to kick it down. And that’s something that I feel like all off season…what we’re gonna try to do.”

And when a journalist asked, “Where does this group get that internal belief that you are gonna do that? [That] you are gonna kick that door down?” Josh Allen had the perfect answer: “I think it’s just the trust and the faith that we have in one another, how hard we work.” 

However, he didn’t forget to call a spade a spade either. “It’s hard to win in this league. It’s hard to win Super Bowls in this league. We understand that. When you’re playing a team that’s now been to three [Super Bowls] in a row, you gotta go out there and you gotta beat them. You gotta take it from them, and we didn’t do that.”

So, how can Allen ensure he beats the team that has been to “three in a row”? Well, fans are expecting big changes at the franchise in the offseason, and so is the QB…

Josh Allen makes a clear demand to the front office

During the post-game presser, he was visibly stunned. But in his last presser for the 2024 season, he made more logical observations. While talking about the locker room and people in the building, he made a clear demand, “I don’t know what’s going on front office wise of who’s staying, who’s coming in. And I guess we’ll figure that out as time rolls. But, just making sure that we understand the vibe and the feel that we had in this locker room and just try to have our core guys replicate that with anybody new that comes in.” Guess, the Bills need to go all-in during the coming draft to get some new players.

Or else players on both sides, offense and defense, need some reinforcements. They have a great team, but over-relying on Josh Allen in each game might be the reason they fumble the game-changing moments.

After defeating them 4 times in playoffs, Patrick Mahomes & Chiefs have also created this mental barrier. Both Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen have beaten each other in the playoffs. But the Grim Reaper is undefeated and is on his way to fight for his third Super Bowl.

For now, Sean McDermott has seven months to revamp their building. The Bills Mafia is eager to see what they would change. It’s high time!