Few teams in the league have been as consistent or as successful as the Buffalo Bills have been over the last five years.
Buffalo has won the AFC East for the last five seasons, and are early favorites for a sixth. For all their success in their own division, though, the team has struggled to find a way to get through the AFC playoffs.
The Bills have reached the Conference Title Game twice during this stretch with two heartbreaking losses to the Kansas City Chiefs. Add additional losses both at home and on the road, and the Bills remain a team that is almost snake-bitten when it comes to the playoffs.
Things may be changing in 2025, though.
Unlike many of their top contending rivals this season, the Bills walk into the 2025 season with the fifth-easiest schedule among all 32 teams. It's a far contrast from last season when they finished with the 10th-toughest stretch in football.
An easy schedule does not guarantee playoff success, but it does show that this may finally be the year for Buffalo moving forward. Home playoff games in Orchard Park are significantly different than traveling on the road to face off against top contenders like the Chiefs or Baltimore Ravens.
It's precisely why the team having an easy schedule could help them out in the long-run. It would put them in the driver's seat for the top overall seed this year. And force many contenders to have to travel to Western New York for playoff matchups.
And that could be the difference between contending for a Super Bowl, and mere playoff wins.