Did the Bills Super Bowl window slam shut after another devastating loss to Chiefs?

There wasn't a hotter team in the NFL entering the Divisional Round than the Buffalo Bills, who had won six consecutive games entering their matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bills had also beaten Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium earlier this season, which boded well for a matchup against a very vulnerable defending champ, but things went awry again as the Bills lost 27-24 to get eliminated by the Chiefs for the third time in four years.

The headline will obviously be Tyler Bass' missed field goal that would have forced overtime but the loss was a true team effort for Buffalo, which squandered a massive advantage in time of possession by allowing the Chiefs to score on five of their first six possessions, a line that should have been six out of seven if Mecole Hardman didn't fumble out of the end zone on the one-yard line.

The result was extremely disappointing for Buffalo, which appeared to have figured things out after firing offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey in November. While injuries did play a part in Buffalo's defensive struggles, there is a good chance their Super Bowl window is already closed.

Is the Bills' Super Bowl window already shut?

There are a lot of reasons to be concerned with Buffalo, which hasn't made it out of the Divisional Round in each of the past four years. The Bills worked hard to lock up their core and augment it, giving big contracts to Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Von Miller among others, which has led to a huge salary cap issue.

Those deals have placed Buffalo nearly $44 million over the salary cap entering the offseason, meaning they will have a lot of work to do with contract restructuring and outright releases just to get compliant with the cap by the start of the new league year. There are also a number of key free agents the Bills will have to figure out what to do with, including Taylor Rapp, Gabe Davis, and Poona Ford.

The current core of Buffalo's roster is also starting to get older, which means you run the risk of seeing previously trustworthy stars begin to show signs of decline. Diggs is 31 years old and showed hints of frustration with the Bills' offense during the season, Miller is 35 and coming off an injury-riddled season, and Tre'Davious White is coming off another season-ending injury for the second time in three years. Several other defensive starters are on the wrong side of 30, which is a concern when the AFC is only getting better.

The AFC is a big problem for the Bills

The fact that Buffalo plays in the stronger AFC is a problem for this Bills' core, which is only getting older and will have to deal with more challengers than they would if they played in the NFC. The AFC East alone will see another tough fight with the Miami Dolphins, who were one win away from unseating the Bills in the AFC East, along with the New York Jets, who split with the Bills in each of the past two seasons and have a healthy Aaron Rodgers set to return next season.

The wild card race in the AFC will also be tough as the conference is loaded with top quarterbacks, including a bunch of stars returning from injury like Rodgers, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Cleveland's Deshaun Watson. Mike Tomlin's Steelers are seemingly always in the mix thanks to a strong defense while the AFC South features a pair of teams with ascending young quarterbacks in Houston's C.J. Stroud and Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence.

The Chiefs and Ravens figure to stay in the mix while the right coaching hire and personnel moves could help the Chargers and Justin Herbert factor into the fray as well. Dealing with all of those contenders will make it much harder for Buffalo, which was 6-6 before ripping off five straight wins to make the playoffs, to get back to the playoffs, let alone contend for a Super Bowl.

This missed opportunity is massive for the Bills' franchise, which had positive momentum, home-field advantage and a clearly weapons-deficient Chiefs' team coming to their building with a spot in the AFC Championship Game on the line. The Bills wasted that opportunity and given that NFL might as well stand for "Not For Long," it wouldn't be surprising if this is the last time we see Buffalo as a serious Super Bowl contender for a while.