And unlike any season that this writer can recall, the Bills are — by many estimates — one of the favorites to win it all. Last night’s performance was so dominant that Buffalo may have increased its odds of bringing home the Super Bowl by over 50%.
Still, we should be clear what “favored” means at this early stage in the season: bringing home the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year is not too likely — much to my chagrin. But even if the Bills don’t ultimately take home the ultimate prize, it’s evident that they’re picking up fans thanks to their newfound success.
Before the game against the Rams, the Bills had a lot of close company in who was most likely to win the Super Bowl. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Rams rounded out the top with between a 7% and 9% chance each.
The combined chance of the teams with the second and third best chance of winning it all was nearly twice (18%) the Bills’ chance entering the season. The morning after their blowout victory, the Bills’ odds of winning is nearly equal to the next two closest teams.
Based on these statistics, it would be far more surprising if the Bills won the Super Bowl than if they didn’t. The Bills have about the same chance of rolling a 6 when tossing a six-sided die. It can happen — we’ve all seen it — but it isn’t likely.
My pessimism here for the Bills’ chances may come as a surprise given that those who know me know that I’m a Bills fan. It could be that I just cannot believe that they will win. Maybe, it’s that I’ve been hurt too many times.
Then again, things are different than they have been in the past for the Bills. Perhaps, they are as good as they have ever been in their entire franchise history.
Regardless of whether they win or lose this year, there are going to be a lot more fans along for the ride. A look at Google searches during the month of August reveals that the Bills were the 12th most searched team in the country.
Back then, the Bills ranked 23rd out of 32 teams for Google searches and had less than one-fifth as many searches as the Cowboys.
Perhaps, the big question is what happens if the Bills do make it all the way this year?
Maybe — just maybe — the team from the smallest media market in the US will become the new America’s team … and I can live with that.
