Going into the 2025 season, there were four quarterbacks who many thought would be battling it out to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, one of whom is Josh Allen, the reigning league MVP. The other three are Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, a three-time Super Bowl MVP, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, a two-time league MVP, and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, who led his team to the Super Bowl in his second year in the league. But, in week 14, three of those quarterbacks suffered potentially season-ending losses, and now Allen looks as if he will be the only one in the playoffs. With Mahomes looking likely to miss the postseason, another quarterback will have a chance at glory, and it looks like it won’t be Jackson or Burrow. While all the AFC signal callers who make the playoffs will fancy their chances, one man and one team has to take their chance this year. Josh Allen, the reigning league MVP, and the fourth representative of the AFC’s elite quarterback room, has his biggest chance yet to take the Buffalo Bills back to the Super Bowl, but while the pressure is on the face of the Buffalo Bills, it is not his job that is on the line.
“We will be back.” Those were the words of Josh Allen almost five years ago after a 38-24 defeat in the AFC Championship to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bills have been back to face the Chiefs since then, three more times in fact, with each loss more heart-breaking than the next. The infamous “13 second game” in the 2021 Divisional Round was a loss that will live in the memory of all Bills fans forever. Two years later, Buffalo got to host the Chiefs in their house, but the words “wide right” once again haunted the Bills in a 27-24 loss. Then, in the 2024 season, when the Allen and his team finally did make it back to the AFC Championship, they were defeated 32-29 at Arrowhead stadium once again. Four heart-breaking playoff losses in five years to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. The other playoff loss in that span? That came at the hands of Joe Burrow and the Bengals, in Buffalo. With neither the Chiefs or the Bengals likely to make the postseason in 2025, Allen and his coach Sean McDermott must seize the day. The time is now, especially for McDermott.
If the playoffs were to start today, Allen would be the second most experienced quarterback on the AFC side in the postseason. The quarterback with the most experience currently in the AFC playoff picture is Aaron Rodgers, who holds a 12-10 record in the postseason. However, given Rodgers’ age and the Steelers’ playoff record since the 2017 season, it is hard to believe they are a true contender even if they win the AFC North. After Rodgers, Allen’s seven postseason wins are by far the highest among the current AFC playoff quarterbacks, with the remaining five holding a combined three wins.
Not only does Allen have the playoff experience over the rest of the playoff contenders in his conference, besides Rodgers, he has also always performed well in the playoffs. He has the sixth highest playoff passer rating of all time, as well as 25 passing touchdowns to four interceptions in 13 games, with another nine rushing touchdowns on top of that. Again, ignoring Rodgers given he is in potentially the last year of his career, there is no quarterback in the AFC playoff picture that comes close to Allen’s playoff production. Bo Nix has played one game in the postseason, losing to Allen in his rookie year last season. C.J. Stroud has admittedly had a strong start to his playoff career, but is yet to win a postseason game against a true Super Bowl contender (Allen has defeated Jackson’s Ravens twice). Drake Maye has not played a playoff game, Trevor Lawrence is 1-1 in the postseason, throwing four interceptions in his only win, and Justin Herbert, as talented as he is, is 0-2 in the playoffs with two touchdowns and four interceptions. If you asked all 32 general managers who they would want from the current AFC playoff quarterbacks for a postseason run, all 32 would choose Buffalo’s quarterback.
But Josh Allen isn’t going anywhere, even if he does fall short this posteason. The Bills’ franchise quarterback is under contract until 2030, with that deal being worth over $300 million. The real pressure is on head coach Sean McDermott. Despite Allen’s incredible playoff numbers, the Bills are yet to make it to the Super Bowl. Allen made the step up to an elite quarterback in the 2020 season, and since then, Buffalo’s defense has given 33.2 points per game in their five playoff losses. That stat is worsened by the fact that in those five losses, the offense has given the ball away just two times. McDermott is a defensive mind, and given that, the numbers are worrying in crunch-time playoff games.
While McDermott’s defenses have let themselves down in the biggest postseason moments, their only excuse can be that in four of those losses they were facing the greatest playoff quarterback ever in Patrick Mahomes, and in the other loss they faced another elite quarterback in Joe Burrow. Of course, neither McDermott or the defensive players would ever use that excuse, as they hold themselves to an elite standard themselves, but the defense has performed well against lesser quarterbacks in the postseason. Since 2020, in their five playoff matchups against quarterbacks not named Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson, the Bills have given up just 19.2 points per game, winning each of those games.
Of course, as Bills fans will know all too well, they have had certain things go well over the past five seasons that haven’t gone so well this season. Firstly, they have won their division and guaranteed at least one home playoff game every year since 2020. This season, they may well have to win three matchups on the road to make the Super Bowl. Secondly, the defense is not as talented as it has been. In 2025, Buffalo ranks 14th in scoring defense as of week 14, their worst ranking since 2020. But the fact is that even if the Bills are going to have to go on the road with a sub-par defense, they will be doing it against quarterbacks who are yet to prove themselves in the postseason, with the exception of a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who may have shown flashes of brilliance this year, but is not the same MVP-level quarterback he once was.
McDermott has helped transform the Bills from a laughing stock to a Super Bowl contender. In 2017, he took them to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. He drafted Josh Allen in 2018 and has overseen his development as the Bills have become an AFC powerhouse. McDermott deserves credit for helping turn this franchise around, there is no doubt about that. If this was the 2021 season and the Bills were facing this line-up of quarterbacks in the playoffs, they would expect themselves to make the Super Bowl, but McDermott would have built up enough credit to get a free pass if they were defeated in an upset. But in 2025, Buffalo’s head coach has no room left for error. He may have a less talented defensive unit than in previous years, and he may have to win multiple games on the road, but with no Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson in the postseason, McDermott’s group has to step up. Those who defend him will say it’s harsh given the drop in defensive talent for the Bills this year, but the lack of production from previous groups in big games means he no longer has the credit built up to use a lack of talent as an excuse.
McDermott is a great coach, there is no doubt about that. However, if Buffalo sees failure this postseason, this time against a lesser set of quarterbacks in the AFC, change has to occur. It would be no surprise if McDermott went elsewhere and had success, but anything less than a Super Bowl appearance should result in Buffalo’s current quarterback-coach combo parting ways, and we all know Josh Allen is staying put.