ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott sat behind the microphone, and for over 16 minutes, he took every question from reporters, wondering about both the big picture and the microscopics of their narrow 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Sometimes McDermott is succinct; other times, he leads with a bit more candor.

Sunday night was one of those reflective kinds of nights.

“We’ve got to learn some things from this game,” McDermott said without hesitation. “The film will speak to us. It really will.”

McDermott and the Bills, who saw their four-game win streak snapped, and with it, all hope of delivering a sixth-straight AFC East division title, know the time for ironing things out is increasingly slim.

All that remains is one contest against the tanktastic New York Jets, who hit the eject button on the season almost a month ago. Trying to take something away, going into the playoffs in a contest like that, is akin to taking a test with the answer key next to you. The time for learning about the team resides merely in the past, which is part of why McDermott is likely hyper-focused on learning those lessons from what just unfolded in Week 17.

Their sobering reality is that, with the New England Patriots clinching the division title on Sunday, the Bills will face their most difficult journey to the Super Bowl since becoming a legitimate contender. The teams in the AFC tournament may be the most unproven they’ve seen, but the Bills, now that it’s confirmed they’ll have to be on the road to begin the postseason, will enter a bit unproven all on their own.

The McDermott-led Bills are 0-5 lifetime on the road in the playoffs, and for them to get to the Super Bowl for the first time since the current regime took hold, they’ll likely need to win three straight on the road. It’s not to say they are incapable of winning a playoff game on the road, and if there was a group of division winners that would lend itself to some postseason road success, it’s this current group.

However, just as it’s been all season for the 2025 Bills, what we’re seeing in real time is that their margin for error is far smaller than they’ve enjoyed for the last five seasons.

The Eagles game wasn’t without its moments of brilliance from the Bills. Buffalo’s defense delivered its most impressive showing of the season against one of the most impressive collections of skill players in the NFL.

Philadelphia managed only three scoring drives. Their lone touchdown came with the Eagles already in Bills territory following Josh Allen’s lost fumble. The defense put up a stopper the rest of the time, allowing just 13 points and 3.5 yards per play.

Knowing that the Bills’ offense was at its worst, the defense delivered another second-half shutout. Without question, it was their most impressive half of the season. The Eagles ran only 17 plays in the second half and didn’t score a single point. They did not complete a single pass in the second half, and the Bills held them to only 16 yards. Quick math yields that the defense allowed fewer than one yard per play. The Eagles’ last four possessions were three-and-outs.

The defense was trying to will the Bills’ offense into jolting themselves awake with one stop after the next. The Bills tried. They really did. Allen landed one stride shy of the goal line on fourth down to turn the ball over on downs. The next drive, on a third down, Allen tried to put on the cape and deliver one of his unbelievable moments without anyone open, manufacturing separation with his ability to keep a play alive. But the Eagles caught him and dropped him for a 19-yard loss and a sack.

It was at that moment that Allen uncharacteristically lost his cool. He slammed the ball into the ground not once, but twice. As he got up, he shooed the ball out of his hand toward the official without any care for where it went, as it went well wide of the target. It doesn’t take a body language expert to tell that Allen was frustrated and fuming over the lack of results.

It was just one of those nights for the Bills’ offense, which is part of the slim margin for error they’ve got heading into the season. As much as it’s promising that one side of the ball can pick up the other when they aren’t at their best, not having an offense that can consistently deliver every week, despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the league, is one of the most perplexing pieces of their playoff puzzle.

Of course, the Bills managed to wake up with a chance to win the game late, with Allen flat out missing Khalil Shakir for a wide-open two-point conversion to win the game. That play might be a microcosm of the entire season, though.

Sean McDermott will have some decisions to make about who to play and who to rest in the regular season finale. (Tina MacIntyre-Yee / Imagn Images)

Sure, the Bills had a chance to win it, but in no way did the offense deserve to win it. The Eagles have a good defense, and the conditions were poor, but managing zero points until nearly 55 minutes into the game is just another indicator that something is inherently flawed about their offensive structure.

The rushing game had its moments, and the passing game actually moved the ball down the field in spots. Sandwiched between were uninspiring and borderline predictable play calls, however, along with more frustration from the receiver group that has yet to provide clarity 16 games into the season.

Buffalo ran the ball on 61 percent of their first down chances, and averaged only 3.5 yards per play. The Eagles knew it was probably going to be a run, and if not that, a quick throw to a tight end, running back or Shakir. The screens — all of them — continued to ring unequivocally hollow. There are many candidates for the worst of the bunch, though calling one on first down to Dawson Knox with only Shakir and Joshua Palmer blocking in front of him certainly stands out.

If the Bills’ fastball of their running game isn’t winning on first down, offensive coordinator Joe Brady just can’t seem to find his footing to dig out of the hole. By now, the receiver topic has been discussed ad nauseam. It’s just not going to become a reliable piece of their game until they can do some serious work in the offseason. The third-down sack that brought out all of Allen’s frustration was yet another stark reminder of how little the Bills can rely on their receivers to get open consistently.

Despite all of it, Allen remains clearly the most significant reason for optimism that the Bills actually could make a road run this postseason. Even he’s banged up now, though. Allen limped his way out of the Highmark Stadium X-ray room after the game, and even if he won’t admit it could be a hindrance, his gait told a different story. If there’s anyone who could use a week off, especially with all the hits he’s taken this season, it’s Allen.

Now the Bills have to ask themselves some very difficult questions with the week ahead, and it’s a multi-layered one. The Bills have one game remaining, and just to get to the No. 5 seed, which would only provide them a very, very slim chance at hosting a playoff game, would need to win and get unlikely help. They’d need both the Los Angeles Chargers to lose to the Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans to lose to the Indianapolis Colts, and awaiting them would be a trip to either Baltimore or Pittsburgh.

How important is maximizing that seeding to them by using all their best players on the roster in a game against the playing-out-the-string Jets? Resting Allen, rather than trying to force the issue, gut it out through the pain and potentially incur more bruises to deal with on the off-chance that their win would help their path, goes against some of their usual judgment.

Still, there also exists the factor of the Bills likely playing their final game at Highmark Stadium. If the Bills had their way, it would be to go out with a victory as a salute to their home of 53 seasons. Not just any victory, but one with their best players giving one final moment to hang on to at the place many still fondly refer to as “The Ralph.”

While a win featuring Mitchell Trubisky defeating a Brady Cook or Hendon Hooker-led Jets team would still be a victory and a great answer to a future trivia question, it doesn’t quite carry the same gravitas as Allen doing it one last time in the yesteryear charm of their longtime home before heading across the street to their state-of-the-art future home.

“We’ve got a lot of things we need to discuss as a leadership group,” McDermott said Sunday night, acknowledging that this isn’t just any Week 18 game next weekend.

Past the feel-good storybook ending of their old stadium, all their focus needs to remain in one place and one place only. For the Bills to actually challenge this year on an improbable path as road warriors, with a slim margin for error along the way, there is just one decision that makes the most sense for their situation.

To maximize their chances of becoming Super Bowl champions in 2025, they are going to need Allen as close to 100 percent as possible. After all, the best way to send out their longtime home isn’t a meaningless win over the Jets to propel them to the No. 5 seed. It’s to actually accomplish the goal that has eluded the franchise since the NFL merger: to win the whole thing.

Their loss to the Eagles and in-game disappointments, even during wins, have all painted the picture of imperfection for the Bills in 2025. Fittingly, it’s an imperfect playoff path for them to accomplish all their goals.

However, if they treat this coming week correctly, have difficult conversations and come up with logical answers by giving their best chance to win the time he needs to heal, it could go a long way to helping push an imperfect season toward a potentially perfect ending.