Bills begin offseason earlier than expected
Orchard Park, N.Y. — The Bills were AFC East champions. They won 14 games this year. They had won 8 in a row coming into this one.
But none of that matters — because they lost, and it wasn't close.
MORE: Bills bounced by Bengals in divisional playoffs
The Cincinnati Bengals were the better team from the start.
The Bengals scored twice early, and the Bills were never able to fight back.
The Bills scored to make it 14-7, but you got a feeling they were going to have a long day when the defense just couldn't get off the field.
Josh Allen and the offense struggled too. Late in the game, he threw an incompletion on a fourth down. Stefon Diggs was frustrated. That's the way it went for the Bills.
After the game, Allen talked about the end of a season, 27-10, in the divisional round to the Bengals.
"They had a good game plan," Allen said. "We were expecting their best punch, and they came out and they punched us."
"I thought we moved the ball when we had some of our possessions," he continued. "But the two early three-and-outs and stalling throughout the game — you can't win football games that way."
"There was no energy, juice, no momentum," Matt Milano said. "Usually we'll get a stop, offense will score; or offense will score, defense will make a turnover — something to bring some change of momentum, but there was none of that this week."
There were issues on both sides of the ball Sunday, and the Bills just never got going.
Now, the offseason begins. The Bills will clean out their lockers today, say goodbye, speak back with the media again and then start getting ready for an offseason filled with a lot of question marks.
