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This week the Buffalo Bills are getting all the comparisons to the Kansas City Chiefs because they’re fresh off of losing to KC, 38-24, in the AFC Championship.
On the field on Sunday, things didn’t look particularly close. But in one sense, the Bills are kind of ahead of the Chiefs already.
To start, let’s put it into Sean McDermott terms.
Buffalo’s head coach, while discussing the Chiefs and their head coach Andy Reid at his end of season press conference, said Kansas City has just simply been at this thing for longer under Reid’s watch.
“They’re in Year 8 and we’re in Year 4,” McDermott said. “In fact, that’s a little bit of a feel for how long they’ve been building their program and where we are.”
If McDermott is going to give himself that sort of comparison, he should also give himself credit. In his own first four seasons leading the Bills, McDermott has actually done better than Reid has with the Chiefs in one distinct and way.
In his first four seasons with the Chiefs after parting ways with the Philadelphia Eagles, Reid did win more games, 43 to McDermott’s 38. Still, both teams did not win their first division titles until that fourth seasons as well. Oddly enough, both also made the postseason in three of those first four years and both missed the playoffs in Year 2.
However, where McDermott has Reid beat is in that same realm.
McDermott won two playoff games with the Bills from Year 1-4 with both coming in 2020. In Reid’s third season, Kansas City won a Wild Card round game, but lost their second. After winning the AFC West in Year 4, the Chiefs were one and done in the postseason.
So hey, Sean, give yourself a little credit. The Bills can say they’re further along in terms of postseason victories. There is no debating that.
Having said that, just a few days removed from losing big to KC, both McDermott and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane expressed a desire to improve, as did the coach.
“There is still a gap in terms of where they are and where we are,” McDermott said.
“They were clearly better than us. We have work to do,” Beane echoed.
“They’re the gold standard. This is three-straight AFC Championships they’ve been in, in a row, and now back-to-back Super Bowls,” Beane continued. “They’re the gold standard of the AFC and maybe the league, we’ll find out here next week.”
Next week, of course, being Super Bowl LV. The Chiefs will look to defend their title win from last season in the hopes of becoming back-to-back champions. Regardless of that outcome, the Bills will want to be part of the equation that keeps Kansas City out of three-straight Super Bowls in 2021.