![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766469132_807_GettyImages-2250588879_d00cef-e1766104711458.jpg\")
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ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 07: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates a 40-yard rushing touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Highmark Stadium on December 07, 2025 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Bills<\/a> weren\u2019t in action on Monday night, but they did secure a postseason berth.<\/p>\n \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d featured the Colts hosting the 49ers<\/a>, and San Francisco got the better of Indianapolis, 48-27.<\/p>\n The Bills Clinch Playoff Berth<\/p>\n With the Colts\u2019 loss, the Bills have secured a playoff spot and are heading back to the postseason for the seventh straight year.<\/p>\n The Bills secured a thrilling 23-20 victory over the Browns<\/a> in Cleveland on Sunday. In the closing moments of the game, it seemed like the Browns might snatch the win, but Buffalo kept pushing through until the very end.<\/p>\n Although beating a struggling Browns team might not seem like a significant accomplishment, the most important takeaway from the game was that quarterback Josh Allen<\/a> had a surprisingly quiet day.<\/p>\n Allen threw for just 130 yards and didn\u2019t score any touchdowns. However, his performance was solid, even if the box score didn\u2019t reflect impressive numbers.<\/p>\n The Bills recorded 164 rushing yards, with running back James Cook<\/a> contributing two touchdowns, which energized the offense. Buffalo desperately needed a performance like the one it delivered against Cleveland, where Allen couldn\u2019t always step in to save the day.<\/p>\n One of the biggest criticisms of the Bills over the past few seasons has been their reliance on Allen to carry the Bills to victory. However, that wasn\u2019t the case on Sunday, which is a positive sign for the Bills as they look to move forward.<\/p>\n Buffalo is Still Trying to Win the AFC East<\/p>\n If the season were to end today, Buffalo would hold the sixth seed in the AFC, securing the second wild card spot.<\/p>\n However, the Bills could still win the AFC East, but the Patriots\u2019 win over the Ravens<\/a> on Sunday now puts New England in a great spot to clinch the division.<\/p>\n If New England wins its final two games against the Jets<\/a> and the Dolphins, then it will win the AFC East. The Patriots can also win the division by winning one more game and the Bills losing once over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n It seems unlikely the Patriots will lose, as both the Jets and Dolphins are out of the playoff race and are now shifting their focus to preparing for the 2026 NFL<\/a> Draft.<\/p>\n The Bills don\u2019t necessarily need to win the division to be a contender in the postseason, but it would be great to extend their AFC East title streak to six seasons.<\/p>\n Regardless of their playoff seeding, the Bills are sure to be a formidable opponent. With the Ravens likely out of contention and the Chiefs<\/a> already eliminated, Buffalo might emerge as the team to beat in the AFC.<\/p>\n There\u2019s still plenty that can unfold in the next two weeks of the season, impacting the Bills\u2019 playoff seeding. However, the most crucial goal was to secure a playoff spot, and Buffalo has already accomplished that.<\/p>\n Hopefully, this postseason will turn out much differently for the Bills than in seasons past, as they won\u2019t have to face Patrick Mahomes<\/a>, who has ended Buffalo\u2019s season in four of the last five years.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDanny Fisher<\/a> Is a football journalist covering the Buffalo Bills for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL for Gridiron Heroics, focusing on the AFC and Penn State football for Nittany Central. More about Danny Fisher<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bills\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 07: Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates a 40-yard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-621531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115767328579357788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}