NFL Power Rankings: Super Bowl...

What we'll remember from last postseason is the Buffalo Bills losing an intense overtime game at the Kansas City Chiefs. The complaints about not getting the ball after losing the OT coin toss. The defense's failure in the final 13 seconds of regulation. What doesn't get enough attention is how the Bills screwed up a prime opportunity to win a championship by giving away regular-season games. Buffalo lost six regular-season games. They were favored in five of them. In four of them, they were favored by 6 or more points. One of them was a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars as a 14.5-point favorite. That's why Buffalo was at Arrowhead Stadium in January. It gave away the No. 1 seed to the Tennessee Titans and home-field advantage to Kansas City with those losses. We remember the loss to the Chiefs. We didn't talk enough about how they could have put themselves in better position and maybe won that game at home. And if they won that divisional-round game, there's a good chance they'd have won a Super Bowl.  The Bills are probably the most talented team in football. That's arguable, but it would be foolish to not at least concede they're on a short list. It's a team that has the capability of having the best offense and defense in the NFL. Their peak is impressive. They can win a Super Bowl. And they might be screwing it up again. The Bills lost their second straight game on Sunday. They lost as an 11-point favorite in Week 9 to the New York Jets and a 6.5-point favorite on Sunday to the Minnesota Vikings. All they had to do against the Vikings was knock down a fourth-and-18 instead of watching Justin Jefferson make the catch of the season, or even just not fumble a snap on their goal line that gave the Vikings a gift touchdown. Josh Allen forced an interception to end it in overtime. The Bills blew a 17-point lead in the loss.

This is what costs teams Super Bowls. Only one team gets the No. 1 seed and a bye, and the path was clear for the Bills after beating the Chiefs earlier this season. The same thing happened last season, when the Bills beat the Chiefs and then gave away so many games they ended up behind Tennessee and Kansas City in the AFC's seeding. And this year, they have to contend with a very good Miami Dolphins team just to win the AFC East. Teams have taken the long road to the Super Bowl. The Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams did it last season. The Bills have the talent to go on the road and beat the Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens or anyone else in January. But if they had the No. 1 seed and needed just two home wins to make the Super Bowl? They'd be a massive favorite. What's maddening is the Bills almost never get blown out. Their three losses this season came by a combined eight points. Their only loss by more than seven points since the start of the 2021 season was to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11 last year. There's some bad luck involved in that. But the Bills have also been awful in close games. They've had nine one-possession losses since the start of last season and that seems more like a flaw than a coincidence. There's time for the Bills to get things together and get the No. 1 seed. Football Outsiders gives Buffalo a 28.6 percent chance to get the AFC's top seed. If not, and the Bills are eliminated before the Super Bowl again, don't look back on the playoff losses. Remember all the games in the middle of the season that the Bills had no business losing but did. It's hard to win a Super Bowl and you don't get many chances at it. The Bills will be a contender for a while, mostly because of Allen, but there's no guarantee. And it feels like Buffalo is giving this golden opportunity away.