Ding dong the drought is dead…the drought is dead….ding dong the wicked drought is dead! The long drought that the Buffalo Bills have been in no longer exists. The drought has been absolutely horrible. Fans have been sad, angry, embarrassed, and possibly depressed.
Maybe Bills fans were just starting to appreciate the four AFC championships as opposed to mourning the Super bowl losses by the time 1999 rolled around. “Wide right” is a term obviously hurt the worst of the four. Once 1999 came around, the Bills lost the famous “Music City Miracle” game to the Tennessee Titans. If that was not enough crazy torture for Buffalonians….little did they know that all of this would lead into missing the playoffs for 17 seasons in all kinds of different ways.
Whether it was having losing records or not getting the extra help to clinch the playoffs, it was rough for Bills fans. In the Bills playoff drought, there were only two times that the Bills had a shot at the playoffs. The years’ of 2004 and 2014. Both seasons ended in winning records, but the extra help that was needed wasn’t delivered.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is currently Buffalo’s hero. The Bengals will be known as the team that helped the Bills snap the 17 year long drought. They used to be known as the team that knocked the Bills out of the AFC Championship back in 1988. With the help of the Bengals beating the Baltimore Ravens, the Bills are sending 1,440 chicken wings from a restaurant by the name of “Duff’s” which is well known in Buffalo for their wings, to the Bengals.
Dalton also has a charity organization in which Bills fans have donated close to $250,000 to support Dalton’s charity. It’s safe to say that Bills fans are more than happy with Dalton as they focus on the wild card game against Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is the first time this century that the Bills are playing playoff football. What happened the last time the Bills saw postseason football?
1.) Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith were on that last playoff team before the drought. They joined Jim Kelly and Marv Levy in the Hall of Fame years later.
2.)The Y2K scare turned out to be really all hype resulting in everything being in place to handle the date change from 1999 to 2000.
3.)Donovan McNabb was still a college player at Syracuse University and was on his way to the Orange Bowl.
4.)MySpace was years away.
5.)”Friends” and “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” were very popular TV shows back at the time.
Focusing on this week against the Jaguars, the Bills will take on Doug Marrone and the Jags at EverBank Stadium this Sunday at 1:05PM.
Scott Bryk is a writer for Full Press Coverage. He covers the Buffalo Bills. Follow him on Twitter at @skotbrick1970.
