Power rankings: Not a single top-10 finish left for the Bills

They haven’t failed to have a winning record through 10 games since QB Josh Allen, suddenly a turnover machine, was a rookie. Monday night’s gut-punch loss to Denver feels indicative of a season slipping away amid so many self-inflicted wounds.

Last Week: 8

No team goes out of their way to make everything as hard as possible quite like the Buffalo Bills. If they continue to play like this against the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys, they’ll miss the playoffs altogether.

The Jenga tower has fallen.

The Bills are in trouble. Buffalo’s defense actually played a decent game against Denver for the most part, relative to what we’ve seen from that unit recently. But the Bills looked like an undisciplined team on Monday night, and they don’t have an offense to properly complement the current iteration of their defense.

Josh Allen is an infinitely talented passer, but he is also a gunslinger. He’s going to turn the ball over, whether it be by fumble or interception. But his talent more than makes up for the mistakes, because this unit hovers around the top five analytically all of the time. But for this football team he needs to play cleanly for them to compete.

And with games against the Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Chargers, and Dolphins remaining over their last seven games, the playoffs are starting to feel like an afterthought.

Last Week: 9

Week 10 Result: Lost vs. Denver 24-22

Prior to Monday’s game against the Denver, Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters that he understood why Bills Mafia was frustrated. The Bills had dropped three of five after a 3-1 start. Quarterback Josh Allen has struggled with turnovers. The Bills looked less like a Super Bowl favorite and more like an also-ran.

“I get it. I understand everyone’s frustration. I absolutely do,” McDermott said. “We’re working extremely hard to make the adjustments we have to make, and Ken is doing the same. So, I remain confident in Ken and our offensive staff.”

The problem is that the Bills team that took the field against Denver didn’t look like it had adjusted much. The defense did its best to limit the damage done by four Buffalo turnovers, and running back James Cook ran well.

But it was the same Bills team we’ve seen over the past month-plus. A flawed team that can’t get out of its own way.

“If it wasn’t already panic time in Buffalo, it is now,” Davenport wrote. Against Denver the Bills didn’t look like one of the AFC’s best teams. In fact, they didn’t look like the AFC’s fifth-best team. Sunday’s home date with the Jets is officially a desperation game now, and the Bills still have road games in Philly, Kansas City and Miami and a home date with Dallas. If the Bills look in those games like they did against the Broncos, Buffalo won’t make the playoffs at all.”

(Last week: 11)

Monday: Lost to Denver Broncos 24-22

Coach status: Safe

Fifteen coaches in NFL history have coached more than 100 games and have a winning percentage of higher than .630. Sean McDermott is one of them. There’s some anxiety in Buffalo that the Bills’ championship window is going to close in frustrating fashion. That anxiety was not alleviated by a sloppy, four-turnover performance on Monday night, but McDermott has earned some benefit of the doubt after winning double-digit games in each of the last four seasons.

Up next: vs. New York Jets, Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET

Four turnovers, or five if you count the third-quarter turnover on downs. A defense that spent 37-plus minutes on the field. Two back-breaking penalties in the final 35 seconds. And that, kids, is how the Bills lost to the Broncos on Monday night. That’s a fourth defeat in the last six weeks, dropping Buffalo to a shocking .500 record. What do you do with this team? Josh Allen did his usual goat-turned-hero thing, but the early missed opportunities — and too much time left on the clock — came back to bite Buffalo. Digging out of holes is no way to live on a weekly basis. When I alluded to the idea of the Bills missing the playoffs last week, it still felt like they’d get things straightened out, but now it’s in real doubt. They still have to weather the Jets at home and go to Philly before the badly needed bye.

They are a .500 team heading into the toughest second-half schedule in the league. They just don’t look like a playoff team. Could heads roll after the season?

Twelve men on the field? Really? Nothing sums up the sloppy Bills this season better than that inexcusable penalty on a Broncos field-goal miss, which gave Denver another shot and handed Buffalo a loss. This is turning out to be a nightmare for the Bills. Yet, the first person to pay the stiffest price for Buffalo’s shortcomings: offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.

Week 10 ranking: 11

Biggest remaining game: Week 14 at Kansas City

There’s an argument to be made that the final game of the season at the Dolphins is big because of how close the top of the AFC East could end up being, but the Chiefs remain a hurdle for the Bills in the postseason, and whenever these teams meet, it’s something to watch. While the Bills have lost consecutive playoff games vs. the Chiefs in Kansas City, Buffalo has been successful in the regular season, winning the past two meetings. The Bills will be well-rested for this one coming off the bye week, and it could play a big role in the AFC postseason.