The Buffalo Bills are about to embark on their journey to the Super Bowl. The franchise infamously lost four Super Bowls in a row in the early ‘90s and didn’t sniff the Big Game for decades after that. Now with Josh Allen at quarterback, a Bills Super Bowl again seems within reach. However, the Bills' playoffs matchups in the AFC will be incredibly difficult. Fans in Western New York have waited their whole lives to see their beloved NFL team lift a Lombardi Trophy, and the 2023 Super Bowl could finally be the time they do it. Here are three reasons why the Bills will win the 2023 Super Bowl.
3. The Damar Hamlin injury
Ever since Notre Dame star George Gipp (allegedly) told famed coach Knute Rockne to “win just one for The Gipper,” sports teams have used fallen teammates as motivation to dig deeper and go that extra mile when the chips are down.
When Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field during Week 17’s Monday Night Football game, it looked like a true tragedy was playing out on live TV.
However, thanks to the quick action of trainers on the field, the excellent work of the medical professionals at UC Medical Center in Cincinnati, and maybe even a little divine intervention, Hamlin is now heading home.
With the safety seemingly out of the woods health-wise for now, it seems like the Bills are using their teammate for motivation. Just look at what happened the very next play (a week later) after Hamlin went down. Nyheim Hines took the opening kickoff of the team’s Week 18 game 96 yards for a touchdown.
There are tangible, logical football reasons that this Bills playoffs run could end in a Super Bowl win, but don’t discount the power of fate.
2. The Bills are getting healthier at the right time
On the field, the Damar Hamlin injury causes a real problem for the Bills. The team already has a banged-up secondary, as Hamlin was only playing because of a long-term neck injury to All-Pro safety Micah Hyde.
Buffalo has been banged-up all season, especially on defense. But there is some good news as the team embarks on a potential Bills Super Bowl run.
While big-money free-agent signing Von Miller is definitely done for the season, two other players thought lost for 2022-23 could make their return. Hyde and wide receiver Jamison Crowder were both designated for return this week and could come back during the playoffs.
Another player showing signs of getting healthier is QB Josh Allen. The superstar signal-caller hurt his elbow in a Week 9 loss to the Jets. He’s started every game since, but at times, his throws haven’t been quite as accurate, nor have they had the same juice on the that they usually do.
In Week 18 vs. the Patriots, Allen threw 31 times for 254 yards and three touchdowns. More importantly, his throws looked strong and zippy, cutting through the Western New York wind, and that is a huge development for Buffalo heading into the 2023 Bills playoffs.
Outside of a few other long-term injuries (OT Tommy Doyle, WR Jake Kumerow) the Bills are as healthy as they have been since Week 1. Rookie CB Christian Benford is the only real question mark among the top Bills players for Sunday’s Wild Card game.
Health is huge for a potential Bills Super Bowl run, and getting healthy in the playoffs could spell big things for Buffalo.
1. Josh Allen is the quarterback
There is fate, there is health, and then there is Josh Allen.
You could list a million reasons the Bills will or won’t win the 2023 Super Bowl, and at the top of every list would be Josh Allen.
Allen is the straw that stirs the drink for Buffalo and is ultimately the major reason the team wins or loses games. In the 2023 AFC playoffs, Allen will go head-to-head against a generational group of QBs that includes Justin Herbert, (maybe) Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Allen’s arch-nemesis, Patrick Mahomes.
With all due respect to the best of the NFC, the winner of the 2023 Super Bowl will likely be the team (and the QB) who most successfully navigates the AFC gauntlet.
In the end, Herbert doesn’t have the team or the coaching around him, Jackson is hurt, and Burrow’s offensive line is falling apart. That means there is a good chance that the AFC Championship Game will be a rematch of the 2021 Divisional Round, where Allen and the Bills came within 13 seconds of moving on.
The Bills’ Super Bowl chances don’t come down to a football game. They come down to a Marvel movie, where two superheroes will strap on their capes and do battle for the fate of the NFL. Like any good superhero movie, our hero has to fail before finally prevailing over evil (the Chiefs), and that’s exactly what Josh Allen will do on his way to a Bills Super Bowl win in 2023.