In case you’re brand new to Buffalo sports, you need to know that the city has two teams in the four major pro sports leagues. You got the Sabres and the Bills, and if you ever read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, it sums up these two teams in 2025. In a way, at least.
It was the best of times for the Bills, especially if they win the Lamar Hunt Trophy next week. And it was the worst of times for the Sabres, who are staring at lucky No. 14, the number of seasons in which they failed to play beyond 82 games.
We can go on and on here, but at least the Sabres can find solace that they’re not the only Buffalo sports team that’s been through significant doses of pain. The Bills spent the years 1995 to 2020 with their own drought, one that involved failing to win the AFC East.
They also had a longer playoff drought than what the Sabres are currently facing, having never scratched the surface of the postseason between 2000 and 2016. Oh, and for bonus points, the Bills went through about 10 head coaches (counting interims) in the process.
Most Buffalo sports fans follow both teams, and I’ve personally met many who don’t even reside or are from the area insert their sporting hearts into the City of Good Neighbors. And why not, really?
Few know what the Sabres are going through better than the Bills
Buffalo is an awesome sports town with a storied culture in football and hockey, perhaps more than anything else. And both franchises in the four major North American pro sports leagues have been at their ultimate highs and ultimate lows; the Sabres are just going through the latter at the moment.
So, what kind of inspiration can the Sabres find in their cousins looking to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl? Well, it’s knowing that, ultimately, anyone can claw their way out of a rut and transform into a perennial championship contender, something the Bills have shown us since the latter part of the 2010s.
And they did it without any generational talents. They have great players, as all great teams do. But few had a high opinion of Josh Allen, given questions about his accuracy and level of competition in college. Now, Allen’s one of the best quarterbacks out there.
That said, while inserting a generational talent is always a good move, it’s not a prerequisite. Build the team around a core that will highlight that core’s strengths. Kevyn Adams probably isn’t the man for the job, and he’s proven that point. But it also doesn’t mean someone out there won’t figure it out.
The Sabres just need to find them, and when they do, the Blue and Gold will finally bust through to the playoffs, and that championship window will open again. The Bills already proved it, and the Sabres just need to emulate it, albeit in a different sport.