When is the last time the Buffalo Bills made the Super Bowl?
It’s déjà vu all over again this Sunday. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs will be meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years. This time around, the site is Orchard Park and not Arrowhead Stadium. In Week 14 at Kansas City, Sean McDermott’s team came away with a 20-17 victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.
While Andy Reid’s squad has played in three of the past four Super Bowls and come away with a pair of Lombardi Trophies, the Bills — in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year — are now more than three decades removed from their last Super Sunday appearance.
Buffalo Bills Super Bowl appearances
The Bills have been to the Super Bowl four times. They were the AFC representative in each of these seasons:
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
No one in the AFC side was beating the Bills in the early 90s.
Have the Buffalo Bills ever won the Super Bowl?
The franchise was in the midst of run that saw them reach the playoffs six consecutive years from 1988-93. Led by head coach Marv Levy, the Bills fell short in the 1988 AFC title game at Cincinnati. A year later. Jim Kelly and company fell short in the divisional playoff at Cleveland, 34-30.
Then came history. The team would capture the AFC four consecutive years from 1990-93. Four consecutive Super Bowl appearances remains an unprecedented feat. Unfortunately, coming up short in the “Big Game” four straight times remains an unprecedented de-feat.
It began with a heartbreaking 20-19 loss to the underdog New York Giants in Tampa, 20-19. A year later, the Bills faced Washington in Minnesota. Levy’s squad looked disheveled in a 37-24 setback.
It was off to Pasadena a year later. Levy’s team failed to win the AFC East in 1992, but would knock off the Dolphins in South Florida in the AFC Championship Game. The upstart Dallas Cowboys had their way with the Bills, who turned over the ball a Super Bowl record nine times in a humbling 52-17 defeat.
Buffalo and Dallas would renew acquaintances in Super Bowl XXVIII in Atlanta, and Levy’s team owned a 13-6 lead at intermission. But Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys would score the final 24 points of the game and deal the Bills a 30-13 setback.
Four straight losses by a combined 139-73 score. When it comes to the Super Bowl, the Buffalo Bills haven’t been heard from since. Levy, Kelly, defensive end Bruce Smith, running back Thurman Thomas and wide receiver Andre Reed all have busts in Canton, Ohio. Meanwhile, the Bills remain one of 12 NFL teams not to hold up a Lombardi Trophy.