Best Bills teams all-time: Where does the 2024 squad rank?

With a dominant 35-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC East for a fifth straight season, setting a new record for the most consecutive division titles in franchise history, and improved to 10-2 for the first time since 1991.

Looking at things solely from a win-loss perspective, these 2024 Bills are already one of the best teams the franchise has ever had, as this is just the fifth time ever that Buffalo has won at least 10 of its first 12 games. We'll come back to those other four instances in just a moment.

While Josh Allen has the Bills on a roll, it's no secret that this Buffalo team will only be judged on how it performs in the postseason. After all, we've seen this scenario before.

In both 2020 and 2022, Allen led Buffalo to 13-3 records, which currently stand in a tie for the second-best marks in Bills history in terms of winning percentage.

But as both seasons ended without a trip to the Super Bowl, the 2020 campaign ending with an AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and the 2022 season closing with a Divisional Round defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals, both are considered failures. And if the 2024 Bills don't reach the Super Bowl, this will be considered a lost campaign as well.

One might think those two previous 13-3 Allen teams were among the other four to start 10-2, but that's actually not the case. So, let's have a look at the Buffalo squads that did race out to the same start these 2024 Bills have and see how those seasons ended.

Bills teams to start 10-2 have gone to a championship game on three occasions

To kick things off, we have to go back to Buffalo's days in the AFL, which, of course, is the only era in which this franchise won a championship.

1964

Statistically speaking, the 1964 Bills are the best team in franchise history.

Coming off consecutive 7-6-1 campaigns, the Bills raced out to a 9-0 start in 1964 before losing two of their next three to get to 10-2.

With wins over the Denver Broncos and the then-Boston Patriots, Buffalo ultimately finished the 14-game regular season with a 12-2 mark, which remains the best record in team history in terms of winning percentage (.857).

The Bills then defeated the then-San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship Game, giving the franchise its first championship. Buffalo wasn't quite as strong the following season, going 10-3-1, but won a second straight championship, again knocking off the Chargers. These two titles remain the only two in Buffalo history.

1988

After going 7-8 in the 1987 strike-shortened season, the Bills turned things around in 1988, and it was this season in which Buffalo became a true powerhouse in the AFC.

With an offense led by quarterback Jim Kelly, wideout Andre Reed, and rookie running back Thurman Thomas, and a defense anchored by All-Pro linebacker Cornelius Bennett, the Bills won 11 of their first 12 before dropping three of their final four to finish at 12-4, giving the team its first AFC East title since 1980.

As the No. 2 seed in the AFC, Buffalo earned a first-round bye in the postseason and defeated the Houston Oilers in the Divisional Round before losing to the Bengals in the AFC title game. This is the only Bills team with at least 10 wins through 12 games to not make it to a league championship game.

1990

Coming off a Divisional Round loss to the Cleveland Browns to end their 1989 season, the 1990 Bills won nine of their first 10 and 13 of their first 15 before losing their regular-season finale to the team now known as the Washington Commanders to finish 13-3.

Again earning a first-round bye, this time as a No. 1 seed, Buffalo knocked off the rival Miami Dolphins in the Divisional Round and then decimated the then-Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship Game by a score of 51-3, thus earning the franchise's first-ever trip to the Super Bowl.

That Super Bowl, of course, served as the setting for Scott Norwood's infamous "wide right" field goal attempt in the waning seconds as Buffalo ultimately took a 20-19 loss to the New York Giants. This was famously the first of four straight Super Bowl defeats.

1991

After winning 10 of their first 11 to kick off the 1991 campaign, the Bills fell to 10-2 with a Week 13 loss to the Patriots but won three of their last four to again finish 13-3, again earning them the top seed in the AFC.

Buffalo easily took down the Chiefs in the Divisional Round, 37-14, and survived a scare from the Broncos in the AFC title game with a 10-7 victory to get back to the Super Bowl for a second straight season.

But there was no close game this time around, as the Bills were soundly defeated by Washington, 37-24.

For those wondering, the '92 Bills were 9-3 through 12 games before finishing 11-5, and the '93 team was 8-4 through its first dozen before winning out to finish 12-4. Both lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl.

Does this 2024 Bills team have enough to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo? We'll find out soon enough.