Chiefs 38, Bills 24

I’ll admit to listening to far too much of WGR’s eight-day pre-game show which started immediately following the Bills win over the Ravens. One of the more interesting segments on One Bills Live last week was on the subject of superstitions – both the ones followed by NFL players, as described in some detail by Steve Tasker, and those practiced by fans who were invited to call in and share their strategies. All of them could be considered manifestations of obsessive compulsive disorder. A common theme is the idea that if the team wins, then the various actions and steps (in a specific order) employed before or during games which yielded the win must continue to be followed, in every detail.  It follows then that players and fans of winning teams feel that their ridiculous and well-tested superstitions are provably successful.  

Tasker explained that the most superstitious team-mate he ever had was Jim Kelly. Tasker himself claims to have had no superstitions as a player and if he was noticed to have donned his equipment in a certain order more than once, it was the product not of superstition but simply of finding an efficient way to dress. Kelly, on the other hand, created numerous elaborate superstitious routines with his team-mates which would start on Wednesdays and carry through to kick-off. Tasker remembers thinking (but not saying) that if the team were to win on Sunday, the win would not come about because Jim Kelly had come to him and tapped his helmet three times with his left index finger after the Saturday walk-through practice. And it also seemed like a lot to remember, in addition to the play-book.

Going into last night’s game in Kansas City, the Bills were 2-0 in this year’s playoffs with Siobhan and Sophie in attendance at my north Toronto apartment and with me wearing the same clothing each time. And with my three Bills-branded winter hats laid out with the logos showing. So, to assist the team in achieving a 5^th Superbowl birth, we of course repeated all of this. Believe me, it wasn’t anywhere near the effort put in by the fanatics who called in to WGR to describe their rituals. Watching in the same location with the same group (or alone) while wearing the same clothing are all popular strategies but many of the more committed Bills fans employ in-game adjustment moves such as switching seats, turning hats inside out or backwards, changing clothing or beer glasses – whatever it takes to get the team going. But sometimes, as was confirmed last night, nothing works and your team loses.

So now I can retire my Bills gear for a few months. It was a great run through the 2020 season and I retire it with great optimism for the future. As every team has, the Bills have some difficult personnel decisions to make with the extension of Josh Allen chief among them. Despite a rough first half last night where Allen’s throwing accuracy escaped him a little, the team needs to give him the contract he deserves which should make him among the highest paid players in the league. Among others, Boston College product Matt Milano will also need a new contract. With the league’s salary cap expected to decline after the loss of gate revenue this season, the decisions will become even more difficult. Successful teams retain their key players and hope to find late-round gems in the draft and role players in free agency to fill out their rosters.

Tom Brady will play in his 10^th Superbowl in a couple of weeks. I was hoping for a Buffalo v. Green Bay game which would have matched-up two of the league’s smallest markets. The Buccaneers now become the first team in the game’s 55 year history to play “at home” in the Superbowl. With the number of fans limited to 22,000 (including 7,500 vaccinated front health care workers invited to attend the game, courtesy of the NFL), it will probably not be the home field advantage it would be in any other year. I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs.