The Buffalo Bills were cruising heading into their Week 5 Sunday Night Football matchup with the New England Patriots. They were the last undefeated team in the NFL and, led by head coach Sean McDermott and reigning MVP Josh Allen, they looked unstoppable. However, the Bills' two-game losing streak to the Pats and then the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football has exposed the team's fatal flaws.
A miracle Week 1 comeback against the Baltimore Ravens and victories over the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, and New Orleans Saints hinted at the flaws, but didn't outright expose them. Buffalo did struggle at times against the Dolphins and Saints, though, which did suggest more issues than meet the eye.
Ultimately, the Bills' fatal flaws, which doomed them the last two weeks, will cost them a chance to play for a Super Bowl again this season. Unless they can get these things fixed before the postseason, it will be another long, cold winter in Western New York without a championship.
Here are the four Bills' fatal flaws that have been exposed during their two-game losing streak.
Josh Allen can't be Superman
Let's start with Allen, because while he is the solution to almost all the Bills' flaws, he is also the cause of some.
Allen is Superman. But he's better when he plays like Clark Kent most of the time. The MVP quarterback can do it all, but he's best when he plays like a game manager and only pulls out the wild Josh Allen plays when it is absolutely necessary.
In the last two Bills' losses to the Patriots and Falcons (and even against the Saints at times), his defense and wide receivers were letting him down so much that he felt the need to put on the cape and try to make amazing things happen too often. This leads to interceptions, and that's not good for anybody.
Buffalo will only go as far this season as Allen will carry them. However, he needs support in order to do that to the best of his abilities, and right now, he's not getting that. Allowing Allen to play within himself for the majority of the game should be the overarching priority for the Bills right now.
Why can't the Bills stop the run?
Through six games, the Bills defense has allowed more rushing yards (938) than any team in the NFL other than the Miami Dolphins (1,011). That's a problem.
This has been an issue for a while now, with top running backs slicing through the Bills' D with little to no resistance.
Part of this is by design. With the team's high-powered offense, they are often ahead, and defending the pass is more important than defending the run. Plus, their biggest rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, is a pass-heavy team where coverage and pass rush trump run stuffing.
So, the Bills have lighter, quicker defensive tackles than most pass-rushing defensive ends and smaller, faster linebackers for pass coverage. That's all well and good, but the tide has shifted too much in that direction, and the Bills can't stop the run at all right now.
The silver lining here is that offseason free agent acquisitions Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi, who are both run-stoppers suspended six games after being popped for performance-enhanced drugs this offseason, will be back after the bye. That may sure up the run defense, but it's no guarantee.
Why is the Bills secondary so bad?
Cornerback has been one of the Bills' flaws for nearly the entire Josh Allen era.
When Tre'Davious White was an All-Pro talent, to Rasul Douglas coming in, to now, with Christian Benford holding down the fort, CB2 has always been an issue. Whether it was Josh Norman, Levi Wallace, or Kaiir Elam, the Bills have rarely had a second trusted outside corner to play with slot corner Taron Johnson and the CB1.
The difference between early and Allen's career and now is that, up until a few years ago, the Bills had one of the best safety duos in the league to backstop whatever mess the corners created underneath. With Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde at the back, the secondary performed as a cohesive unit, and although there were misteps at times, Poyer and Hyde could make up for that with a well-timed hit, breakup, or turnover.
Fast forward to 2025 and the Bills have one of the worst safety tandems in the NFL. Taylor Rapp and Cole Bishop are not starting-caliber safeties.
Rapp is ranked 78th out of 82 eligible players at the position by PFF. Bishop is 39th, but that is largely based on his 77.0 pass rush grade, which isn't all that relevant to the position.
Buffalo needs to upgrade the secondary, and they are running out of time to do it. The 2025 NFL trade deadline is Nov. 4, and unlike the run defense, making a deal is the only way to make significant gains in this area of the roster.
It comes down to coaching, and Sean McDermott is the problem
Yes, the defensive personnel is a problem on several levels. Still, the Bills have plenty of talented, highly-drafted players on that side of the ball, so there shouldn't be too many excuses.
There are, though, which is the biggest problem. The Bills are led by a defensive-minded head coach in Sean McDermott, and despite some roster deficiencies, he should be able to scheme the unit up and get the job done when needed.
That simply doesn't happen often enough.
When Patrick Mahomes gets in trouble, Andy Reid can scheme up a play, or series of plays, to get him out of trouble and back on track. McDermott can't do that on the offensive side of the ball because that's not the former defensive coordinator's specialty. And lately, he can't seem to do that on defense either, which is a problem.
So, if he can't help boost the offense or the defense, and sometime makes head-scracthign clock-managment and timout decisions, what is McDermott doing?
At this point, it seems pretty clear that the Bills will not win a Super Bowl with McDermott in charge, and that is the biggest fatal flaw of all.
