The 2020 season was the Buffalo Bills' 61st as a franchise, 51st in the National Football League (NFL), the sixth full season under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula and fourth under the head coach/general manager tandem of Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane. After acquiring players such as Stefon Diggs, Mario Addison, and A. J. Klein during the offseason, the Bills offense, led by quarterback Josh Allen, took another step forward, scoring an at the time franchise-record 501 points and leading the Bills to 13 wins in the regular season, and their first playoff wins and first AFC Championship appearance of the 21st century.
The Bills began the season strong with a 4–0 start, their first since 2008. Despite two straight losses afterwards, with both of their games during their losing streak postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Tennessee Titans' organization, the Bills won 9 of their final 10 games, with their only loss during that span being the "Hail Murray" game against the Arizona Cardinals, to finish on a six-game winning streak with a 13–3 record, improving on their 10–6 record from 2019 and tying the franchise record set in the Super Bowl seasons of 1990 and 1991.
In addition to returning to the playoffs for the third time in four years after previously going 17 consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, the team won the AFC East division title for the first time since 1995 (during the Marv Levy/Jim Kelly era) after a 48–19 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 15, becoming only the second team other than the 2008 Miami Dolphins to win the division over the New England Patriots since the New York Jets in 2002. Not only did they sweep the Patriots for the first time since 1999, but the Bills swept their entire division for the first time in franchise history. They also qualified for the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1998 and 1999 (during the Wade Phillips/Doug Flutie era), which was also the last time the Bills had back-to-back double-digit-win seasons. This was the first of five straight AFC East titles for the Bills.
The #2 seed Bills began their playoff run in the Wild Card Round against the #7 seed Indianapolis Colts, winning 27–24 for their first playoff victory since 1995. After this, they defeated the #5 seed Baltimore Ravens 17–3 in the Divisional Round, advancing to their first AFC Championship Game since 1993, where they faced the #1 seed and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who they coincidentally faced in their last AFC Championship Game appearance. The Bills would lose 38–24.
The Bills would not make another AFC Championship game appearance until 2024. Coincidentally, the Bills would face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship that year as well.
Contents
Draft
Draft trades
Preseason
The Bills' preseason schedule was announced on May 7, 2020, but was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regular season
Schedule
The Bills' 2020 schedule was announced on May 7.
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Buffalo handily won after racing to a 21–0 second quarter lead. Quarterback Josh Allen surpassed 300 passing yards for the first time in his career—throwing for 312, to be exact—and rushed 14 times for 57 yards as newly acquired receiver Stefon Diggs made his debut with the team. The defense largely shut down the Jets' offense aside from a field goal, a 69-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Jamison Crowder and a garbage-time touchdown in the fourth quarter, though rookie kicker Tyler Bass struggled in his debut, missing two of his four field goal attempts.
In a back-and-forth affair against the rival Dolphins and former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Allen sealed the game for the Bills with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to rookie Gabe Davis and John Brown, respectively, as the defense was playing without starting linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. Stefon Diggs also caught his first touchdown as a Buffalo Bill, which occurred during a power outage at Hard Rock Stadium in the second quarter that temporarily prevented CBS from airing the game. With the win, Buffalo improved to 2–0, as Allen threw for a career-high in passing yards with 415.
Buffalo raced to a 28–3 lead in the middle of the third quarter, but after a pass from Josh Allen to TE Tyler Kroft was controversially ruled an interception for Los Angeles as Rams DB John Johnson III grabbed the ball moments after Kroft caught it, the Rams stormed back with five scoring drives to erase the deficit and take the lead in the fourth quarter. Allen would nonetheless lead a game-winning drive in the final four minutes of the game, including three crucial passes to WR Cole Beasley, capping it off with a touchdown pass to Kroft following a defensive pass interference call on Darious Williams on 4th and 9. With the win, not only did Buffalo start 3–0 for the second year in a row, but for the third week in a row, Allen threw for over 300 yards.
Buffalo scored on the opening drive of the game when Josh Allen found a wide open Gabe Davis for a 26-yard touchdown. The Bills would not lose the lead for the remainder of the game, with Allen continuing his hot start to the season. Late in the second quarter, Allen scrambled and found Stefon Diggs for a 9-yard gain, but took a big hit from Raiders DE Arden Key, resulting in an injury to his left shoulder. He would return, however, and score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, along with 136 yards passing in the second half, with his longest being a 49-yard throw to Diggs. Buffalo would win and go to 4–0 for the first time since 2008 (the team started 4–0 that season before losing nine of their final 12 games).
Postseason
Game summaries
In their fourth consecutive playoff game against the AFC South dating back to 1999, and what would end up being Colts quarterback Philip Rivers' final NFL game until a brief stint in the 2025 season, the Bills held on despite a fourth quarter comeback by the Colts to win their first playoff game since 1995. In his first playoff win, Josh Allen threw for 2 touchdowns and 324 passing yards, and scored another rushing touchdown. Dawson Knox and Stefon Diggs caught a touchdown each. Tyler Bass kicked a 54-yard field goal, a new rookie playoff record. Allen became the first QB in NFL history to throw for 300+ yards, run for 50+ yards and complete at least 70% of his passes in a playoff game. The game was also coach Sean McDermott's first playoff win as head coach.
After four consecutive playoff games against the AFC South dating back to Music City Miracle in 1999, the Bills finally played a team from another division in the playoffs for the first time since 1998. In a windy game which saw three missed field goals in the first half alone (two by the league's best kicker in Justin Tucker and one by Bills rookie Tyler Bass), the Bills scored the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a three-yard pass from Josh Allen to Stefon Diggs to take a 10–3 lead. The Ravens then drove to the Bills' 9 yard line, where quarterback Lamar Jackson threw the first end-zone interception of his career to Bills cornerback Taron Johnson, which was returned 101 yards for a touchdown, tied for the longest pick-six in NFL playoff history, to expand the Bills' lead to 17–3. Jackson then suffered an injury on the next series, and was unable to return. Although the Bills offense was held scoreless for the rest of the game, Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley was unable to complete a comeback, sealing the 17–3 win for the Bills to advance to their first AFC Championship since 1993.
This was the third AFL/AFC championship game between the two teams. Kansas City won the 1966 AFL Championship game to advance to Super Bowl I, while Buffalo bested the Chiefs in the 1993 AFC Championship game to advance to Super Bowl XXVIII, its fourth in a row. Despite taking a 9–0 lead in the first quarter, the Bills offense was ineffective in the red zone, and on defense, they were unable to contain the Chiefs offense for the remainder of the game. After giving up three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter, the Bills scored a field goal to go into halftime down 12–21. The Chiefs momentum continued into the second half with two more scoring drives, while the Bills settled for another field goal. In the fourth quarter, Allen's pass intended for receiver John Brown was tipped and intercepted, leading to the Chiefs' final touchdown of the night. The Bills followed up with a scoring drive on a Josh Allen touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie, followed by an unsuccessful two-point attempt, and a successful onside kick recovery leading to a field goal. The Chiefs recovered the Bills' next onside kick and were able to drive to the Bills' 15-yard line and run out the clock, ending the Bills' hopes for a comeback victory.
Accolades
Josh Allen: 4x AFC Offensive Player of the Week; 2x AFC Offensive Player of the Month
Stefon Diggs: 1x AFC Offensive Player of the Week
Jerry Hughes: 1x AFC Defensive Player of the Week
A. J. Klein: 1x AFC Defensive Player of the Week
Pro Bowlers:
QB Josh Allen
WR Stefon Diggs
LB Tremaine Edmunds
CB Tre'Davious White
RS Andre Roberts
All-Pro:
WR Stefon Diggs (1st team)
QB Josh Allen (2nd team)
WR Cole Beasley (2nd team)
CB Tre'Davious White (2nd team)
RS Andre Roberts (2nd team)