The Bills Multi-Year Pileup
Commenter verziehenone suggested this on the comic about Dick Butkus last week and although I’ve already covered this topic on Bills Sadness Week, I found it too good to pass up since it gave me a good opportunity to do a variation on the usual punchline. So thanks for the good idea, Verziehenone! I will probably go back to that comment section many times in the next two months.
There was a part of me that was rooting for an Eagles/Bills matchup in this past super bowl so that the Eagles could “complete” the NFCE sweep of the Bills in Super Bowls. I have to imagine that if those two teams did play, the Eagles would have clobbered Buffalo in a way reminiscent of those 90’s blowouts. Of course, if Buffalo had won, then we could make jokes about how the Eagles are the only NFCE team to actually lose to Buffalo, and that would have been just as funny. Alas, we got a dumb rematch and a blowout instead. Give Josh Allen the first down next time you fuckin Refs.
I consider the Bills a phantom dynasty. They never managed to overthrow the emperor and claim the throne for themselves, but nobody in modern history has given it a better try. No other team has done this in the Super Bowl era. To find teams that have gone 4+ times in a row, you have to go back to the 40’s and 50’s, when there were like 15 teams. The Bears managed it from 1940-1943 (winning 3 of 4) and the MOTHERFUCKING CLEVELAND BROWNS, who went to the championship 5 straight years between 1951 and 1955. They would lose the first 3 and win the last two. The closest anyone else would come to that is the Giants making it 5 out of 6 years between ’58-’63. They went 5 times and lost all of them. I’m sad now.
I also got curious and checked the AFL history pre-merger, and nobody got 4 appearances in a row there either, despite the league having 10 teams total. The Bills, Chargers, Raiders, and Oilers all managed 3 appearances straight though. This is also how I learned the Bills technically have 2 championship wins to their name. Nobody cares, but they did it. Both times at the expense of the San Diego Chargers. Chargering: it’s been happening for a long time.
So yeah. The Bills made a Super Bowl 4 straight years. That’s an astonishing feat despite the way it always ended. We’ve only ever had a single team even reach it 3 times in a row since the Super Bowl era started, and that was last year with the Chiefs. There is a reason a significant number of Bills players are in the Hall of Fame, and that 90’s dynasty is why.
(B)oy
(I)
(L)ove
(L)osing
(S)uperbowls
Or, BILLLLS
Anyone got any others they remember from back then?
The Dolphins and Patriots also made it to 3 straight Super Bowls
“We’ve only ever had a single team even reach it 3 times in a row since the Super Bowl era started, and that was last year with the Chiefs.”
The 2016-2018 Patriots?
’71 – ’73 Dolphins too. Before the Chiefs, it had only been done by AFC East teams. I used to joke the Jets were due in the 2030s.
And apparently every single time one of those teams lost, it was to an NFC East team
Dolphins – L to the Cowboys
Bills – L to the Giants, Redskins, and 2 to the Cowboys
Patriots – L to the Eagles
Chiefs – L to the Eagles
Giants and Commanders need to step up their Three-peat denial game
And the 1971–1973 Miami Dolphins (L vs. Cowboys, W vs. Manders, W vs. Vikings)
I wouldn’t blame him, though, because the pats now suck again, and the Dolphins have their recent problems.
Dolphins had LWW, Pats had WLW, and Chiefs had WWL.
3Peat Attempts in the Super Bowl era
GB
1968: Lombardi ascended to the front office. Packers sucked & started a run where they made two playoff appearances until the arrival of Mike Holmgren & Brett Favre in 1992
MIA
1974: Sea of Hands. And the WFL lured many Dolphins players away
PIT
1976: Offense sucked so the defense had to do all the work. Ended up in the AFC Championship where they lost to the Madden Raiders
1980: Old age catches up with them. The Steelers stubbornly keep Chuck Knoll around until 1991
SF
1990: “There will be no threepeat”
DAL
1994: Well… for starters Jerry got mad that Jimmy got all the credit for the Cowboys revival. He proclaims within earshot of several prominent DFW sportswriters at the hotel bar that he fired Jimmy. The team went 12-4 (losses were to DET on MNF, at SF, CLE, & a meaningless Week 17 game at NYG). NFC Championship at SF. Don’t be fooled by the final score, 3 DAL turnovers = 3 SF TDs in the 1st 6 minutes sealed their fate
NE
2005: Made the playoffs as AFC East Champ. Beat the Jaguars, then lost at DEN in Round 2. This is one of the reasons why the Steelers won that Super Bowl
KC
2024: Chiefs Devil Magic ran out in the Super Bowl. Out of all the teams that went back-to-back, they are the only one to get back to a Super Bowl to try for 3Peat
Fun fact about the 42 Bears (The only Bears team in the early 40s that didn’t win the NFL Championship).
They had a better point differential in 12 games than every NFL team since then with the sole exception of the 2007 Patriots.
1942
“War are declared”
George Halas left for the Navy
(NAME REDACTED) had revenge on their mind after that 73-0 beat down two years ago
I have to wonder if somewhere in an impoverished village deep within Africa lies a man who has every Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champion shirt in pristine condition.
(open to an old, poor African man on his deathbed)
Man: “I lived my entire life starving living in a dilapidated home, but at least I had my four Buffalo Bill Super Bowl Championship shirts to keep me company.”
Nurse: “Yeah, too bad you didn’t have the Internet, you could’ve sold that complete set of Buffalo Bills Super Bowl stuff for quite a bit of money.”
Man: “What?!” (clutches chest) “Curse you Scott Norwood!” (dies)
Fin
The Bills streak of Superbowl failure is the origin of one of the best scenes in The X-Files, and I will always treasure it for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyhAJEPEHk4
I just got back from a weekend of saying goodbye to my Dad (passed in April), and one of the things we shared all our lives was our love of football.
I grew up as a Vikings fan (by birth) but when I was a kid in the 90’s I wanted to root for a team that would make it in the post-season, so I chose to be a Cowboys fan.
It’s been a hell of a ride these last 30 years with all the different storylines for both teams (who I root for unless they play each other or have to choose one over the other, typically choosing the one better equipped for the post-season) and this year will be the first without Dad to talk to about it.
He *hated* Aaron Rodgers (and the Packers, obvs, but singularly hated Rodgers) and I’m glad there was no Rodgers-as-a-Viking simply because I couldn’t hear his thoughts each week. So I’ll be hoping JJ takes them to the promised land, in my Dad’s honor, for that reason.
All that to say this: This was the first comic I opened in my RSS feed after getting back into the ‘swing of things’ and I can’t express the joy this brought me. I’m glad to inspire one of my favorite comics, even gladder to enjoy the history you infuse it with.
Thanks man, keep it up. 🙂
My dad was also a Vikings fans since they became a team and I kept the faith. It’s helped me remember Sunday afternoons spent with him on the couch watching the Vikings after he passed ten years ago. A few years ago, I was watching a game and thinking about my dad. My husband asked what was on my mind and I said, “Dad was a die-hard Vikings fan and never got to see them win a Superbowl.” Husband looked at me contemplatively and said, “Don’t feel too bad for him honey, you’ll probably never get to see them win a Superbowl either.”
Ironically the only Bills team that came close to winning it all was the first edition.
Can we at least appreciate that the events of the Bills losses led to Buffalo ’66?
Re:Zero remake starring the Bills.
Here’s another car crash idea
The Dolphins are leaving a snowy Texas Stadium in November 1993. Leon Lett is looking for a place to hide. They are 9-2.
They lose to the Giants… ok… they’re leading the NFC East
They lose to the Steelers… standard Steelers where they play up to competition
They lose to the Bills… ummm… this the 3rd loss in a row… and no more home games…
They lose to the CHARGERS?!
Now the Dolphins are 9-6. Their final game is against the… PATRIOTS?! Those pushovers? No way they lose to the Patriots
The Dolphins lose in OT to the Patriots. They are the first team to start 9-2 and miss the playoffs