Josh Allen confident in Bills' continued Super Bowl push: 'You knock enough at the door, it's going to open at some point'
The Buffalo Bills have reached the playoffs each of the past seven seasons. They're still searching for that elusive Super Bowl victory, a triumph that's evaded the franchise for decades and most notably in the 1990s, when they lost the championship game four years in a row.
Josh Allen is the main character in the latest chapter of Bills history, and the dual-threat quarterback is deservedly beloved in the city he represents. As he enters Year 9, however, the one-time NFL MVP yearns to deliver Buffalo the Lombardi Trophy.
He's fallen short of an AFC title year after year, with last season's overtime divisional-round loss to the Denver Broncos triggering his latest traumatic premature exit from the postseason. When asked how he processes defeats like that on Tuesday's episode of Kevin Clark's "This Is Football" podcast, a 30-year-old Allen showcased his resilience and unwavering confidence in what the franchise has been striving toward.
"Definitely, we've watched it," Allen said of the Bills' heartbreaking, turnover-riddled 33-30 setback to the Broncos in the playoffs last season. "We've put it in the past. We've learned from it. And we've been in the playoffs a lot of times in the last however many years I've been here now — just continuing to find ways to learn from it. And I think it's a hard pill to swallow sometimes because we haven't gotten it done.
"But you knock enough at the door, it's going to open at some point. And that's just what we have to keep doing is keep knocking on that door and giving ourselves chances to be in that situation again."
I asked Josh Allen how he processes last year's playoff loss now.
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) August 4, 2026
"Next question." (He was joking)
"If you knock enough on the door it's going to open at some point. What we have to keep doing is keep knocking...and give ourselves chances to be in that position again." https://t.co/Wbi9CEa1Itpic.twitter.com/GYmjgLzhOv
After the 2024 campaign, the Bills made it to the AFC championship for the second time during Allen's run as QB1. Buffalo took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter and then answered a Kansas City Chiefs touchdown by knotting the game up with six minutes and change to go before Kansas City pocketed a field goal and turned the Bills over on downs near midfield (a fourth-down drop by tight end Dalton Kincaid left a particularly strong sting).
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That marked the fourth time the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs ousted the Allen-piloted Bills in the playoffs. The series' most famous — or infamous, depending on who you ask — matchup arrived amid the 2021 season. In the divisional round, the Chiefs marched downfield in 13 seconds to set up a game-tying field goal and, in turn, an overtime win that shocked Allen and the Bills, who seemed primed for victory in Arrowhead Stadium. That game prompted the NFL to change its overtime rules.
Perhaps internally, Allen has become calloused because of those agonizing shortcomings. That said, the hope he conveys burns brighter than ever.
Through it all, he's continued to grow as a leader.
"Josh has always been mature beyond his years, especially off the field," Bills president of football operations and GM Brandon Beane told Clark in Tuesday's episode. "I just think he's come to the point where if you look at his progression as a player and a member of this team, early on, he just wanted to play and lead on the field but wasn't really going to tell people do's and don'ts, things like that.
"Then, over time, he starts to [assert himself as] the offensive leader. I think you saw it last year, and you really have seen it this offseason, a guy that he's not even afraid to go talk to the defense and lead those guys."
Beane, who drafted Allen No. 7 overall in 2018 out of Wyoming and has been with the Bills since 2017 after working for the Carolina Panthers from 1998-2016, explained that Allen previously worried about stepping on the toes of defensive veterans.
"I think now he knows," Beane said, "that they want him to tell them, 'Hey, we need it better. We need a stop here.' Whatever it needs to be. And I think that just comes. You can't rush that."
Beane added: "Now that he's a dad and he's married, he's as determined as ever. He's got a huge chip on his shoulder to bring this trophy to Buffalo and all [of] Bills Mafia."
The Bills moved on from longtime head coach Sean McDermott following last season's loss to the Broncos. Then they promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to fill that vacancy. Brady brought aboard Jim Leonhard to run the defense, which now features a 3-4 scheme.
If the Bills finally win the Super Bowl this season, "it's because of what?" Clark asked.
"Because we were the most connected team," Beane said, filling in the blank. "We had a lot of fun. Obviously, you got to have health. But I think it's all those things. We handled whatever adversity hit us. The car got off the road, we got it right back on, and we just move it ahead.
"And I think those are the teams — I've been to two Super Bowls. Those are what those teams both had in common. When the adversity hit, they just shrugged it off. No big deal. Next game, next week, we know we're good. And that's what you want to see from this team, that confident swagger."
