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The Buffalo Bills followed up a 48-point performance against the Denver Broncos with a dominant 56-26 performance in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins. While improving to 13-3, the Bills completed a season sweep of their AFC East rivals ahead of a Wild Card round playoff matchup with the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday.

All things considered, after that thrashing of the Dolphins, Buffalo’s third-straight win of 29 or more, the Bills enter the 2020 playoffs as the league’s hottest team. Even the season-ending power rankings agree.

With that, here’s how the Bills sit in national polls following Week 17:

USA Today

3. Bills (3)

They’re arguably the league’s best team … and almost certainly its hottest, Buffalo’s average margin of victory over the last six weeks nearly three touchdowns.

Touchdown Wire

3. Buffalo Bills

(13-3. Last Week: 3)

With a win Sunday over the visiting Miami Dolphins the Buffalo Bills, or a loss by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bills would secure the second-overall seed in the playoffs. With the Steelers making the decision to sit down Ben Roethlisberger, it would be interesting to see how head coach Sean McDermott handled his starters. Would he pull them at some point or finish through the tape?

McDermott pulled them, but that did not stop the Bills from hanging a 50-burger on the Dolphins. Josh Allen threw three touchdowns, Matt Barkley threw one coming on in relief, and the Bills made the case yet again that if there is a threat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC, it is Buffalo.

Sports Illustrated

3. Buffalo Bills (13-3)

Points in poll: 212
Highest-place vote: 2 (3)
Lowest-place vote: 4 (1)
Last week: win vs. Miami 56–26
Next week: vs. Indianapolis

The Bills swept the AFC East and tied a franchise record for wins this season, and now have their eyes set on even bigger goals.

Sporting News

5. Buffalo Bills 13-3 (AFC No. 2 seed)

The Bills (13-3) are down here behind three NFC teams because they play in the AFC facing the big obstacle of the Chiefs, who beat them by a solid nine points in the regular season while containing Josh Allen, the conference’s second-most dangerous QB after Mahomes.

The Bills certainly are capable of outscoring the Chiefs if needed, but the concerns would be having ample defensive holes for Mahomes and the Chiefs’ running game to exploit. They are helped by their recent playoff experience (albeit losing) with coach Sean McDermott and the emotions that will come from making an always-proud franchise a Super Bowl contender again.

Yahoo! Sports

2. Buffalo Bills (13-3, LW: 2)

John Brown played for the first time since Nov. 15 and had 72 yards and a touchdown. Getting Brown healthy right before the playoffs is another good sign for the Bills. He can be an important factor this month.

Bleacher Report

3. Buffalo Bills (13-3, AFC No. 2 Seed)

High: 3

Low: 3

On Saturday, the Buffalo Bills will do something they haven’t done since 1996: host a postseason game.

No team is entering the postseason with more momentum than Buffalo, either. Sunday’s blowout win over the Miami Dolphins put a cap on a season from Josh Allen that was the best ever by a Bills quarterback.

In fact, Allen is the first quarterback in league history to pass for more than 4,500 yards and 35 touchdowns with five rushing scores, according to BuffaloNews.com.

Per Sobleski, Allen’s presence might just make the Bills the toughest out in all of the AFC.

“Allen may not be named the 2020 NFL MV—that nod will eventually go to Aaron Rodgers—but no quarterback is more difficult to defend today,” he said. “Everything came together for the 24-year-old, who finished among the top five this season in completion percentage (69.2), passing yardage (4,544), touchdown passes (37) and quarterback rating (107.2) while adding 421 yards and eight scores on the ground. Trying to stop Allen and Stefon Diggs has been nearly impossible this season, which makes the Bills arguably the AFC’s scariest postseason opponent.”

While the Bills are rolling, safety Micah Hyde told reporters after the Dolphins game that the real work now begins.

“We’ve played some pretty good ball lately, we understand that,” Hyde said. “But we’ve got to keep it going. I think it starts in practice this week. We’re coming off some big wins, so we gained a little momentum, we’ll assume that. … At the end of the day, we got some momentum, so we’ll keep it going.”

If the Bills continue to play the way they did against Miami in Week 17, they have the best chance of preventing the Chiefs from making it back to the Super Bowl for a second consecutive year.

Pro Football Talk

1. Bills (last week No. 2; 12-3)

Four resounding wins in four straight nationally-televised games shows that the Bills are ready to win multiple games in January.

ESPN

3. Buffalo Bills (13-3)

Week 16 ranking: 2

The Bills are a tough team to find a resolution for — they’re doing almost everything well as the regular season rounds out. But after winning the AFC East for the first time in 25 years, it’ll be hard to play the underdog card that Buffalo has often played the past two seasons. There will be raised expectations for the Bills once the calendar turns; they’ll need to be as comfortable with a target on their backs as they were with a chip on their shoulders.

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