What are the top three worst losses in franchise history?

[ArtVandalay]

1 hour ago, VaMilBill said:

 

3) 2009. Bills lose to Patriots on MNF 25-24. This one stung because again, Bills were big dogs. Tom Brady was still fresh off of his torn ACL recovery and a lot of us was hoping he would never be the same. Bills had been rocking all night. Aaron Schobel had the pick six. Defense had two 4th down stuffs. Then McKelvin, inexplicably returns the ball out of the end zone and fumbles. Couple of plays later Patriots score and we lose. Painful. 

I was at this game at Gillette. 

 

Awful.

[Rick 'r Mortis]

1 minute ago, Futilebreadmachine said:

Oh dear god I'd somehow forgotten about that one. Wasn't that their first home loss in the post season?

 

 

That sounds right, but not sure.

 

What I can tell you is that I had to follow the second half of the game on my flip phone as I was getting prepped for my brother's wedding.

 

I was in such a bad mood at the reception 😂

[billsfan714]

2 minutes ago, ArtVandalay said:

I was at this game at Gillette. 

 

Awful.

And to go back to my anti-clutch reference, before they kicked off, fans who are not professional coaches, were thinking......whatever happens just dont get stood up and let them strip the ball, just get down,  and then BAM, stoodup and ball stripped.   LIke how can a professional team make that mistake when casual fans know what not to do.

[Mikie2times]

I have seen a lot of regular season games mentioned. I'm surprised "Just give it to em" has not been brought up.  

[HalftimeAdjustment]

Why do these threads keep happening? But... here are my rankings anyhow.

 

SB25

...

SB28

SB27

SB26

...

"Music City Miracle"

...

1989 Ronnie Harmon drop

13 seconds

...

Texans playoff loss

Chiefs AFC champ loss

...

Jim Kelly's last game

...

Others

 

Why don't I rank this loss higher? Because we lost to a team that was basically an even match, and we didn't get ripped off by some ref BS or something. We played well and got beat. In SB25, the MCM, and the Ronnie Harmon drop it felt like we lost to a worse team. And the other Super Bowl losses were all crushing regardless.

 

 

[Mike in Horseheads]

Wide right, MCM, 13 ***** seconds with honorable mention to The Drop and Fergys broken ankle...  Hell no goal too while I'm at it!

[Nextmanup]

15 minutes ago, ArtVandalay said:

I was at this game at Gillette. 

 

Awful.

That MNF Patriots loss is truly horrible--so was the one against Dallas.

But I don't know how anyone can put a regular season loss in the Top 3! 

 

I mean, we lost 4 Super Bowls in a row in differing forms of gut wrenching nausea.

 

Those all have to rank higher than ANY regular season loss, don't they?

 

🤔

[Donuts and Doritos]

1 hour ago, JaCrispy said:

Wide Right, 13 Seconds, and Music City Miracle- in that order...

Agree 100%

[Aussie Joe]

Lotta people ranking 13 seconds second behind Wide Right ...

 

I probably feel the same but maybe there is some recency bias...

 

I remember being particularly devestated by the 4th SB loss at the time... Probably knew is was the last throw of the dice with that squad ... and they led at half time...But it was over some time before the end ..so not the torture this latest game was ..

[gomper]

Super Bowl 25. It's not even close. That was a World Championship that got away. As much as 13 seconds sucked and what could been even more demoralizing, it doesn't compare. 

[Aussie Joe]

Just now, gomper said:

Super Bowl 25. It's not even close. That was a World Championship that got away. As much as 13 seconds sucked and what could been even more demoralizing, it doesn't compare. 

 

No... But isn't it sad that there is an even worse loss in their history than  13 seconds?

[QCity]

Every Super Bowl loss was worse than 13 seconds. Those were championship games and you knew the end of the Kelly era was upon us. The Allen era is just starting.

[billsfan714]

8 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

That MNF Patriots loss is truly horrible--so was the one against Dallas.

But I don't know how anyone can put a regular season loss in the Top 3! 

 

I mean, we lost 4 Super Bowls in a row in differing forms of gut wrenching nausea.

 

Those all have to rank higher than ANY regular season loss, don't they?

 

🤔

I agree especially when it was a Bills team that was just so-so, any millenial Bills loss wasnt hard to get over. Its why this one was no.2 on my list.  Superbowl 25, last play off the game, execute a FG and you are wold champions.   That whole year I knew the Bills were the best team in football.   We beat the Giants in there place with their starter Phil Simms in the regular season(pretty sure).  This team, really seemed to flip a switch after half time of the Tampa game,   In the NFC games, both mvp candidates were knocked out, leave Jimmy G and Stafford.   Win this and the next game is at home, where our playoff record is like 10-1.  This team could of gone the whole way.  I doubt if we would of been an underdog against any of the remaining 3 teams.  Rams maybe a push/slight fave because of the locaton.  It was that close, I could see it.   And boy does it hurt.   Because I know this teams been trying for 50 plus years and dont fool yourself, it aint easy.

[pennstate10]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

This doesn't even make my short list. It was a great game played by great teams. We lost and that sucks, but we didn't get the rug pulled out from under us by external forces or collapse in on ourselves. We just lost.

The MNF game to Dallas felt worse. Stevie Johnson drop against the Steelers felt worse. Losing against the Steelers backups and launching the career of Willie Parker felt worse. Watching our 5-1 season slip away was worse. MCM and Wide Right were WAY worse.

Sorry dude, youre simply wrong. 13 sec is #2 on the list. We had a clear path to the super bowl

[HalftimeAdjustment]

14 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

 

No... But isn't it sad that there is an even worse loss in their history than  13 seconds?

 

Yes. We lost a Super Bowl 20-19 to a team that seemed clearly inferior. Our defense couldn't stop them when it counted. Possibly the worst part is knowing that Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick were involved, and hearing Parcells brag "power football wins". They changed the rules on 4th quarter injuries afterwards because Belichick abused the rulebook so much.

[Mikie2times]

This also needs some context. Like Super Bowl 25, we missed a FG. The game was in doubt for the majority of the way. We missed a FG that was usually about 60% of in that era on grass. So the play itself wasn't anything that unlucky. It was almost a coin flip outcome, it was just what was at stake that made it so bad. 

 

13 seconds felt a lot more like MCM, but I will give you another comparison that I feel is more accurate. Houston got the ball first in OT for "The Comeback". Odoms picked him off, Christie sealed the game shortly after. If Houston would have drove the field and kicked a FG and we lose, it would have felt the same as 13 seconds. It was the constant emotional jerking around that made the game so difficult. Even MCM was more like a gunshot to the head. You really didn't even know what happened and had little time to process. 13 seconds was like the comeback in the sense that it was a complete emotional roller coaster and you were aware of being on it. No Gunshot to the head. Time to process, time to become ecstatic only to become demoralized, then have it repeated multiple times.    

[billsfan714]

4 minutes ago, pennstate10 said:

Sorry dude, youre simply wrong. 13 sec is #2 on the list. We had a clear path to the super bowl

Absolutely right.   Maybe somebody can offer up a heartbreaking pre-season game or some scrimmage.

[Billznut]

2 hours ago, cwater10 said:

Wide Right

13 Seconds

1980 Ron Smith Chargers (That crushed me.  Truly believe that would be a Lombardi)

MCM

 

OK, that's four... But these are The Bills and I've been a fan for 50 years.  Limiting to four felt like a nice kind thing to do for myself.  Just for fun and to see who's paying attention, does the name Don Nottingham bring down any night terrors for anyone out there?

After that playoff loss to the Chargers, 13 year old me went up to my bedroom and broke the curtain rod in my room. That broken curtain rod is still up in my room at my parents house and it’s still broken 41 years later. 

[dhgold]

For me the killers are SB 25, Home run throw forward & 13 seconds.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

I’ll channel my new found inner Brady man in the arena and say the next loss is the worst loss