What was your most frustrating season as a Bills fan?

[holla83]

On 5/2/2020 at 5:00 AM, ColeB said:

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.

This was the first season that came to mind. They beat up on some pretty bad teams during that run but it was still fun to watch. My dad and I were at the Rams game that started that win streak. I watched that Steelers game at a bar owned by a Steelers fan. SMH

[TheCockSportif]

Either 1987 (they were supposed to be good that year then strike plus other stuff meant for yet another disappointing season) or 2004.  In 2004, I remember watching the opener against Jacksonville @ The Harp in Boston, and wondered if the team had squandered an opportunity on that day.

 

Sections of the highway 93 were being abated with a torch and claw hammer and were falling to the ground, if memory serves, because the Big Dig was nearing completion, and would make a huge thud as they fell into a dump truck, parts onto the pavement, etc., on that day.  Watching that distracted from yet another completely underwhelming effort from this team.

[Matt_In_NH]

Fist sb year ( cause they should have won but instead partied the whole week) and 2016 are the ones that jump out.  Really thought we were doing the right things when Rex signed on.  He killed a great defense.  

[GunnerBill]

19 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

I’d like to see the list of the LEAST frustrating season. For me, it had to be the drought ending finish. I still remember running around the house screaming like a little kid when Dalton hit that pass on New Years Eve! I couldn’t have cared less what happened in Jacksonville the next week. I was still smiling from ear to ear. 

Go Bills

 

Agreed. I was the same.... I went crazy when Boyd scored and then when the Bengals stopped the Ravens desperation drive on 4th down to end the game I basically collapsed to my knees. I don't think I have ever wanted anything in my life so badly for so long as I wanted to see the Bills make the playoffs. I always said that the first time we made it I didn't care if we got smoked in the wildcard, which we didn't but we didn't win. I am also to some extent willing to give them a mulligan for last year's first round exit as Josh's first playoff experience, but they have to start winning those games now.

 

Twice in 3 seasons.... I think that is the likely ratio we will be seeing for the next decade. I bet we are looking at something like 6 or 7 playoff years in the next decade.

 

[Chandler#81]

The season Billy White Shows joined the Board.

[Greg S]

Most frustrating to me was 1990. The season itself was great but the Bills should have won it all that year. They were better than the Giants. Also 10 years earlier if the Bills could have beaten the Chargers in the divisional round as they were leading late in the game 14-13 but lost 20-14. Win that game and the AFC championship game would have been at home against the Raiders. Buffalo had already beaten Oakland 24-7 early in the season so they would have been favorite and had a good chance to play the Eagles in the 1980 Super Bowl.

[ExWNYer]

Kudos to everyone for all of these submissions.

 

I don't know that this was the most frustrating for me. In fact, I'm sure it's probably not but everything is magnified when you're a kid. I was so in love with my Buffalo Bills that every loss/failure hurt like crazy. My submission for this thread is the 1973 season...the year that O.J. Simpson ran for 2,003 yards behind Lou Saban's 'Electric Company'. For context, this was the Bills' first winning season since I was old enough to remember following them. I was 9 years old when that season began, 10 when it ended. The team got off to a great start that year, going 4-1. Those four wins matched their entire total for the previous season which had been preceded by a one win season. The loss that kept them from going 5-0? Week 2...at San Diego...a 34-7 thrashing to a Chargers team which had lost it's opener, 38-0...a blowout loss to a team which then proceeded to lose 6 of its next 7 games with the one non-loss being a tie....a blowout loss to a team which then ended its 7 game winless streak by beating a bad New Orleans team (finished 5-9) and then dropping its final four games to finish...2-11-1. To make matters worse, the Bills lost to that same Saints team, at New Orleans, 13-0. That Saints loss came during a horrible mid-season stretch whereby the Bills stumbled to a 1-4 record, leaving them at 5-5. They then got hot again, winning their final four games to finish 9-5...and missing the playoffs by one game. Back then, the three division winners and the one non-division winner with the best record in each conference advanced to the playoffs. Had the Bills beaten the 2-11-1 Chargers and the 5-9 Saints, they would have finished with a 11-3 record and claimed the Wild Card over the 10-4 Pittsburgh Steelers. An 11-3 finish would have left them with the second best record in the entire AFC, second only to the 12-2 division winning '0 for the '70s' Miami Dolphins. As 'Billsy' a season as any. The '73 and '74 playoff Bills (both 9-5) along with the '75 Bills (8-6) were an oasis in an otherwise vast 1970s desert. BTW, the '75 Bills started 4-0 before finishing 4-6 (which was another extremely frustrating season). Hot starts followed by epic collapses...sound familiar, Bills fans?

 

Here's to (hopefully) a bright future going forward.