Why the Bills' Super Bowl window might already be closing

The Buffalo Bills' loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday did not just end their Super Bowl hopes for this season, it might have represented the beginning of a closing championship window.

That might seem like an overreaction to a 13-3 team that has one of the league's best quarterbacks, but if you dig down into why the Bills lost and what their short-term future looks like it's easy to see why getting to the Super Bowl -- and winning it -- is only going to get tougher in Buffalo. 

As great as Allen is, he is no longer a cheap starting quarterback and owns one of the NFL's largest contracts. His salary cap hit for next season goes from $16 million in 2022 to $39 million and then increases to $41 and $51 million in the ensuing seasons. That is a massive difference and is going to cut into the Bills' ability to build the strongest possible team around him.

And that was already becoming a problem.

For as great as the Bills have been the past few years, they are only getting further away from the Super Bowl each year in terms of what they do in the playoffs, and there is a strong argument to be made they are not quite on the level of the top contenders in the AFC (Kansas City and Cincinnati). 

This roster had a lot of holes this season and they were badly exposed down the stretch run and into the playoffs against both Miami and Cincinnati. 

Allen and Stefon Diggs are megastars on offense. 

But how much help is really around them? The Bills' running game has been a question mark for a couple of years now thanks to the offensive line and the running backs, and they do not really have a big-time No. 2 receiver to complement Diggs. Gabriel Davis makes the occasional big play, but he is probably not keeping defensive coordinators awake at night. 

Defensively, the Bills' pass rush was largely dependent on Von Miller and took a nose dive when he was sidelined. That pass rush was non-existent against Joe Burrow on Sunday. Making matters worse, they also have some big pending unrestricted free agents on defense in Jordan Poyer and Tremaine Edwards.

Not only do the Bills have a lot of areas to address, but they are also already an estimated $15 million over the 2023 salary cap and have one of the worst cap situations in the league going into the offseason. 

It's going to be a challenge to address all of those holes, replace potential losses, and make improvements to catch up with the Chiefs and Bengals.

Even with his occasional lapses and turnover issues, Allen is still great enough to give the Bills a chance to compete every week and every season. 

But their best football might already be behind them given the flaws and the challenges in fixing them. 

Things can change quickly in the NFL, and the Bills might be finding that out.