The Buffalo Bills of the nineties, Super Bowl winners four times in a row, are widely considered the greatest team in the history of professional football. Yes, the Packers of the sixties (five championships in seven years), Dolphins of the seventies (three straight Super Bowl appearances), Steelers of the seventies (back to back Super Bowl champions twice) and 49ers of the eighties (four Super Bowl wins in the decade) were without a doubt great, but none came close to matching the Bills achievement of four consecutive Super Bowl victories.
The Bills brought a near unstoppable offense consisting of quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas (who often receives comparison to Walter Payton) and receiver Andre Reed. Perennial All Pro defense end Bruce Smith anchored a stingy defense. Rounding things out, of course, is “Mr. Clutch” himself, kicker Scott Norwood.
At this point the relevant question to ask is “How might the Bills have lost four in a row?”. Well, with a single bounce of the ball here or freak injury there, possibility could easily have turned into reality. At this point let’s take a close look at the Bills four Super Bowl victories from the standpoint of “what might have been”.
Super Bowl XXV
Buffalo 22 – New York Giants 20
This is the easiest of the four to imagine the Bills losing. Jim Kelly, as we already know, drove the Bills (down by one point late in the game) deep into Giants territory before Norwood split the uprights with a 47 yard field goal out as time was about to expire. But what if the kick happened to sail wide? How might NFL history have changed? Would the Bills have the confidence and momentum behind it to win the Super Bowl the ensuing three years?
Super Bowl XXVI
Buffalo 41 – Washington 3
Washington Redskins fans are still crying about Super Bowl XXVI: “If quarterback Mark Rypien hadn’t torn his ACL in the second half of the NFC Championship game against Detroit then Buffalo wouldn’t have stood a chance”. “Woulda- Coulda-Shoulda” is the resounding response from the Bills faithful. It is without a doubt that Washington was severely hampered in the Super Bowl without the injured Rypien, having to rely upon little used backup Jeff Rutledge (who threw only 22 passes the entire year). Rutledge, as it turned out, did not have the big game experience to stand up under the Super Bowl pressure- let alone the pressure from the Bills defense, which sacked him 5 times and forced him into 4 interceptions.
But let’s imagine Rypien not getting injured against Detroit (or at worst, suffering a minor injury such as a sprained knee as opposed to tearing the ACL). This evens things out as Rypien had an All Pro season in 1991, having thrown 28 touchdown passes and registering a quarterback rating of 97.9 (not to mention being sacked only 7 times). Experts agree that the Redskins were just as good if not superior to the Bills in featuring the bigger and stronger line (on both offense and defense) while losing just 2 games by a combined 3 points in the regular season. Hence, it is not difficult to imagine a Rypien-led Redskins team defeating the Bills by a couple of touchdowns- let’s say by a final score of 37 to 24. No disrespect to Bills fans of course, but one must give the Redskins their due (by far the best team Buffalo faced in its four year run).
Super Bowl XXVII
Buffalo 31 – San Francisco 30
This one has often been called the “Super-Shoot-Out” with two Hall Of Fame quarterbacks in Jim Kelly and Steve Young going head to head. Similar to Super Bowl XXV, the Bills also won this one on a last second field goal by Scott Norwood. But football fans fail to realize just how close Buffalo came to losing. Midway through the fourth quarter the 49ers had both a nine point lead (30 to 21) and the ball deep in Buffalo territory. However, on first and goal from the Buffalo five yard line Steve Young had his pass picked off by Bills cornerback Nate Odomes. Kelly proceeded to drive the Buffalo offense the length of the field, scoring on a picture perfect 15 yard toss to Andre Reed. Following a quick three and out stop by the Bills defense, Kelly again went to work- smoothly moving the team into field goal range before Norwood won it at the last second.
But what if instead of throwing the interception to Odomes Young hit receiver Jerry Rice at the back of the end zone for the touchdown instead? A 37 to 21 lead more than likely would have proved insurmountable at that point.
It is also worth mentioning again the “clutch” work of Scott Norwood, who got the Bills to the Super Bowl with a late fourth quarter field goal in the AFC Championship Game against the Dan Marino led Pittsburgh Steelers. Marino, who was a first round draft choice by the Steelers in 1983, led Pittsburgh to the Super Bowl in 1984 (losing to a very fine 49er team 24 to 14) but has failed to get them back to the “big dance” since.
Super Bowl XXVIII
Buffalo 27 – San Francisco 24
Super Bowl XXVIII, for a lack of better words, turned out to be another shoot out between two great quarterbacks. Similar to last year , the 49ers failed to capitalize on their opportunities. This time the 49ers were also leading in the second half, 21 to 20 early in the third quarter, when Young found tight end Brent Jones wide open in the end zone on third and goal from the Bills nine. But Jones, however, had the ball slip through his fingertips and fall to the turf. The 49ers were forced to settle for a field goal, which proved the difference in the game. NFL historians often compare Jones’ drop to that of Cowboys tight end Jackie Smith in Super Bowl 13 (a 35 to 31 Steelers victory).
In closing it must be mentioned University of Miami football head coach Jimmy Johnson, who turned down an opportunity to coach the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson had an agreement in principal with new Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to become Dallas’ next head coach, but the deal fell through when Johnson, having suffered a near death experience in a horrific auto accident, decided to stay in the college ranks to pursue his dream of being a “lifelong educator”.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, went with former University of Oklahoma head football coach Barry Switzer. The Cowboys struggled under Switzer, having failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs each of the past three years despite a talented line up including quarterback Troy Aikman, runner back Emmitt Smith and wide receiver Michael Irvin. Sports writers, as a result, often describe the Cowboys as a “poor man’s version” of the Bills- in other words, very good but not quite great.