What was your most frustrating season as a Bills fan?

[Phil The Thrill]

There were many frustrating seasons during the drought.  For me, it would have been either:

 

1994:  Coming odd 4 straight Super Bowl appearance we all expected the team to get “one for the thumb.”  But this was an old and tired football team that really hadn’t been upgraded enough.  Many of the players were on this team a year too late - especially on defense.  Kelly and Reed had a pretty decent season but Thurman seemed to be a little and Frank Reich really played poorly.  I remember being surprised that they wouldn’t play in the SB - it was the first time for me as a fan.  
 

2003 - the Bills came off a somewhat disappointing year (9-7) hut seemed to be firing on all cylinders after destroying New England 31-0 in the opener.  They looked like a bonafide Super Bowl contender.  But then of course, it all came crumbling down.  Terrible coach, terrible year.   Very frustrating.

 

2016 -  There was so much Talk this year from coaches, players, GM’s etc.  When it was nut-cutting time no one backed it up.  The best example was Rex Ryan.  Like a lot of fans I was excited when Rex was hired but he wore out his welcome fast.  By the end of the 2015 season, I was pretty sure he was fools gold but hoping I was wrong.  The worst was listening to Rex every talk about how they were going to turn things around.

 

Of course, the other person responsible was Doug Whaley.  Another example of someone who talked a big game but couldn’t do better than Tyrod Taylor at QB.  He whiffed at EJ then wasted draft capital to trade for a “generational player” who never panned out.  
 

The best thing Terry Pegula ever did was to move on from these two...but man was it frustrating.  
 

Let’s hear your thoughts!

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

9 minutes ago, Phil The Thrill said:

There were many frustrating seasons during the drought.  For me, it would have been either:

 

1994:  Coming odd 4 straight Super Bowl appearance we all expected the team to get “one for the thumb.”  But this was an old and tired football team that really hadn’t been upgraded enough.  Many of the players were on this team a year too late - especially on defense.  Kelly and Reed had a pretty decent season but Thurman seemed to be a little and Frank Reich really played poorly.  I remember being surprised that they wouldn’t play in the SB - it was the first time for me as a fan.  
 

2003 - the Bills came off a somewhat disappointing year (9-7) hut seemed to be firing on all cylinders after destroying New England 31-0 in the opener.  They looked like a bonafide Super Bowl contender.  But then of course, it all came crumbling down.  Terrible coach, terrible year.   Very frustrating.

 

2016 -  There was so much Talk this year from coaches, players, GM’s etc.  When it was nut-cutting time no one backed it up.  The best example was Rex Ryan.  Like a lot of fans I was excited when Rex was hired but he wore out his welcome fast.  By the end of the 2015 season, I was pretty sure he was fools gold but hoping I was wrong.  The worst was listening to Rex every talk about how they were going to turn things around.

 

Of course, the other person responsible was Doug Whaley.  Another example of someone who talked a big game but couldn’t do better than Tyrod Taylor at QB.  He whiffed at EJ then wasted draft capital to trade for a “generational player” who never panned out.  
 

The best thing Terry Pegula ever did was to move on from these two...but man was it frustrating.  
 

Let’s hear your thoughts!

so many to choose from. 2003 is a really good choice.

 

i would put 2000 up there (year after the music city miracle). First year without a Thurman, Bruce, and Andre. Team embroiled in a QB controversy still, and neither guy played all that well. Started out okay, and then lost their last 4 and ended 8-8. And beginning of the end for Sam Cowhart. Suffered a season ending high-ankle sprain against TB. (And of course, Tore his Achilles to start the next season, and that was really the end). 

[mead107]

All of them from 91 on. Need that SB win 

[Rico]

2003 and it's not even close. The first 2 games were incredible though.

[thurst44]

2 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

i would put 2000 up there (year after the music city miracle). First year without a Thurman, Bruce, and Andre. Team embroiled in a QB controversy still, and neither guy played all that well. Started out okay, and then lost their last 4 and ended 8-8. And beginning of the end for Sam Cowhart. Suffered a season ending high-ankle sprain against TB. (And of course, Tore his Achilles to start the next season, and that was really the end). 

I'd also have to say 1999/2000 is one of them. The way the feel-good season crash landed into the mess with whole Flutie/Johnson divisive nonsense. It stung extra as I had been a Flutie fan since I was a kid and saw the Hail Mary pass and was so overjoyed he had not only come to the Bills but was winning with them, and did not care for Rob Johnson's blase attitude from the beginning. Even if I liked Johnson and hated Flutie, the move would have rubbed me the wrong way, because it just seemed all kinds of football wrong (never be fooled by a game against competition that's not trying). The last thing I want to do is open up that Pandora's Box, but that was my perspective and why it was an especially rough season from my perspective. Then a few weeks later was the cuts of the last remnants of the glory years and it was just salt in the wounds. 

 

Also,

2011: I just remember being in a bar in NY's Port Authority the day after the third of their three straight post-5-2 start blowouts, meeting up with a friend who couldn't care less about football. Before my friend arrived, I sat there musing about how it always falls apart for the Bills but had a bit of a joyful epiphany while thinking at least we can follow Fred Jackson's historic season as he was on pace for 1700 yards and well over 2000 from scrimmage at the age of 30 and what a fun underdog story that it was that an undrafted running back who had been through every other minor football league, after a couple training camps, caught on with the Bills and now was one of the best players in the league. What an amazing story. That will at least give this season some purpose. Then a few moments after my friend came in, I looked up at a TV screen tuned to ESPN and "Fred Jackson out for season" came across the crawl, and I just shook my head "Bleep football!" 

[JimKellyTryouts]

Rex's first year for me; I was initially nervous to see how his system would work with us, but they continued to assure that they weren't going to put square pegs in round holes despite doing exactly just that for his two years here.

 

The offseason was full of all sorts of flashy moves to improve our offense - Shady for free, Charles Clay who admittedly looked great when healthy with Miami, Percy Harvin, and Tyrod. Roman, and then especially Lynn, made the offense pull its weight with how dominant we were as a rushing team and relative ease of putting up points. Tyrod's agent's comments that were stressing that the defense and discipline were holding this team back from contention were spot on.

 

The over-confidence, self-destruction of what Schwartz did for us, nepotism hire, and exodus of players for various reasons were all rough times. After the colorblinding loss on TNF to the jets, I was at a low point because I didn't see us having any sort of short or long term trajectory for success. 

 

 

Fortunately, Terry did end up striking gold with McDermott's hire, though the handling of the draft leading up to Whaley getting fired made me just as uncomfortable. Luckily, it has all worked out for us rather quickly since our roster and front office is as good as it's ever been in many years

Edited May 2, 2020 by JimKellyTryouts

[DallasMac]

2011 for me.  Team looked so promising at 5-2 with a win over the Patriots.  Thought the drought was finally over.  7 straight losses after.  Hope squashed.

[Flip Johnson]

2005-12 - the irrelevance of Mularkey, Jauron, and Gailey and the incompetence of the front office was really agonizing.

 

2014 - on the edge of the playoffs and ending the drought, then losing to Oakland

 

2016 - when it became obvious that Rex had no answers and we were starting over.

[folz]

1984: 2-14

1985: 2-14

1986: 4-12

 

The recent drought was much longer, but the team wasn't anywhere near as bad at any point during the drought as it was in '84 to '86---except for maybe 2001, but at least that year we thought it was because we were rebuilding.

 

 

[Fr. Jerk]

More recently would be Rex's first year. He peaked in week 1. It was all downhill from there.

[Nuncha]

Year of the music city miracle......we had a really good team and if we win that game I think we go to the super bowl.

 

My expectations were really low when Rex was here.  I knew we would suck.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Azucho98

[Doc Brown]

All of these but I'll add 2008 after starting 5-1.

[longtimebillsfan]

Two words Rex Ryan.

Edited May 2, 2020 by longtimebillsfan

[MJS]

Rex Ryan's 2016 season. There was hope going in because we were told that Rex Ryan was going all in on his defense and we were to believe that he would get it on track. Turned out to be nothing but bluster. Ryan came in and destroyed an elite defense and a team that actually had some talent to compete. What a total waste of two seasons and a great defense.

 

The other season I'll mention is 2011 when we started off 5-2 with Ryan Fitzpatrick and then the wheels came off. Similar feeling to the 2008 5-1 start, but at least the QB got hurt that year, so there was a reason why they fell off a cliff.

 

There were years when we knew the team would be bad or mediocre and they were. Those aren't as bad as the years when you have hope and that hope is dashed.

Edited May 2, 2020 by MJS

[BobbyC81]

2004: a dismal start leaves them at 0-4 and then 1-5.  In weeks 11 thru 16 they have probably the best 6 game stretch in franchise history, scoring at least 33 points in each game, winning each by double digits with most by big margins.  Then, all they need to do is beat the Pittsburgh backups to get in the playoffs and they lose.

[BillsNutHawaii]

3 hours ago, folz said:

1984: 2-14

1985: 2-14

1986: 4-12

 

The recent drought was much longer, but the team wasn't anywhere near as bad at any point during the drought as it was in '84 to '86---except for maybe 2001, but at least that year we thought it was because we were rebuilding.

 

 

 

The 1985 season, a second consecutive 2-14 season, was just too much for me to withstand.  My justification:

- No signs of improvement from the previous season 

- losing players to the USFL

- team is getting blasted with regularity.

- uniform / helmet change bc Joe Ferguson supposedly had challenges distinguishing team mates from division opponents downfield (that’s actually attributed to 1984) Then Joe Ferguson, the inspiration for the change, departs   .... for a 7th round pick from Lions which to my knowledge we never received.

- The Vince Ferragamo / Bruce Mathison QB “battle”

- Jim Kelly laughing at Buffalo via national media, although he certainly made amends, but in 1985 we didn’t realize he would later make up for it.

- Bruce Smith relegated to the bench (I’ll always remember the photo of him in SI, or some national sports magazine at the time, doing push-ups for some practice related infraction he committed).

- Kay Stephenson gets fired mid season and things get worse with Hank Bullough

- Patrick McGroder passes away (January 15, 1986) which could technically be considered part of the 1985 season.  FYI Pat McGroder was key to bringing pro football back to Buffalo....post AAFC, (All American Football Conference) .... From what I learned, we can thank George Halas for that debacle.... but I diverge .. that’s for another thread.

 

Anyway, that season was a total mess.  Was there a Bills season which was actually worse than this ... if so, I would be curious to know which season that would be. Thoughts ? 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by BillsNutHawaii
More detail

[GunnerBill]

2015 by an absolute mile. That team had the talent not only to make the playoffs but to make a run. We played a relatively weak AFC South and an NFC East that was in turmoil. We came into the year boasting a top 5 defense from 2014 and with one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL plus upgraded weapons with McCoy and Clay and Harvin to add to Sammy, Woods, Hogan and Goodwin. We weren't sure what we had at Quarterback but Tyrod only needed to be average (he actually had the best year of his career). 

 

Sadly it was the worst Head Coaching season I can ever remember in Buffalo. Absolute shambles from the start. To finish 8-8 with that talent on that schedule was fireable. That we wasted another year on the fat, useless buffoon still to this day infuriates me. That said, that season we'd have had to wait until after the Superbowl to hire the guy I wanted to replace him because he was coordinating the defense of the Carolina Panthers. I can just about live with waiting an extra season to get the right outcome. 

Edited May 2, 2020 by GunnerBill

[BillsNutHawaii]

2 hours ago, Azucho98 said:

Year of the music city miracle......we had a really good team and if we win that game I think we go to the super bowl.

 

My expectations were really low when Rex was here.  I knew we would suck.

 

 

 

I think our number one ranked defense that year would have challenged the Rams offense.  I really believe the Bills had a better than 50% chance of defeating the St. Louis Rams in that SB, had Buffalo advanced.  

[Golden Goat]

1997. We went 6-10 and finished our season with a loss to Green Bay on a Saturday -- the early game. The Bills' season was officially over before any other team's. That pissed me off enough for me to remember it vividly 23 years later.

[eball]

2016 for me.  3/4 through the season I wrote a letter to the Pegulas that I would not be renewing my season tickets (after 27 years) and implored them to fire Rex and remove Brandon from all football operations.