The Buffalo Bills should be grateful for blind faith.

If you're born and raised in Buffalo, it’s hard not to form some kind of attachment to our sports teams. Not everyone is a die-hard fan, follows them regularly, or even watches the games, and some people are entirely detached from our sports. But, every single Buffalonian shares one thing no matter how detached they may be- everyone feels that same sense of pride, that same spark in their heart, when the teams do something to be proud of. That something doesn’t have to be season-changing or highlight-reel worthy, it can even be a loss if the team fought hard and showed an effort to win. We’re all about the effort here. Fans are pretty happy as long as we aren’t embarrassed to be rooting for them. It really takes a lot to discourage a Buffalo fan. We suffer from “blind faith syndrome” like no other city.

The Bills, overall, tend to be more embarrassing than the Sabres for the always-loyal fans. Anyone who knows anything about sports knows how terrible the team is this year, and that’s with the addition of “superstar” Terrell Owens. Silly athlete, making fans believe the Bills were going to blow everyone out of the water. Don’t you know that we never win? You won’t change the Bills, they will change you. Has the team gotten any better since you joined us? No. Have you been playing like the all-star you used to be? Nope. You came to Buffalo, and now you suck. That’s just how things go here. Every season you hear Bills fans shouting from the roof that this is the year we’re going to make it. It’s funny, but also so sad.

Last year at least the fans had a reason to celebrate for a few weeks; the Bills went 5-1 at the start. They tricked their fans into thinking they were really going to prove themselves as a team to be taken seriously. Fans loved it. Super Bowl talk was everywhere, everyone bragged about players’ stats, and Ralph Wilson stadium was alive with pure pride and love. Then they lost their next 4 games, and everyone shut up. People were so shocked that the team just fell apart after such an unbelievable start.

My question is, why? Why were people so shocked that the Bills didn’t make it? They never do. They disappoint every single season and fans never seem to figure it out. Maybe it’s the city, maybe Buffalo is just not meant to be a championship city. I really hope that’s not the case but at the same time I was under the impression that our NFL team was made up of professional athletes, not local high school kids picked from a lottery. Which is what we looked like these last two weeks when we got beaten by teams that were winless before they played us. Because the Bills suck, Buffalonians are putting up one hell of a fight to try and get the coach fired. This whole thing can’t possibly be his fault, can it? For a Bills fan, it most certainly is his fault. Even though he’s not on the field playing, and he doesn’t actually control the players like they’re little puppets, it’s entirely his fault. It’s not our shitty, inexperienced quarterback or our offensive line that can’t protect the newbie. I get the whole coach-firing thing in the grand scheme of things, because the Bills have consistently failed under his control. But seriously, our disastrous season is entirely his fault? Thank you blind faith, for letting Buffalo leave the rose-colored glasses on. Our players aren’t bad, and we would never blame them for poor coaching. Like I said, they all go out there and play, and we’re all about the effort here. Take a step back and look around, our team has been a joke since long before Dick Jauron. So the question has to be asked, who’s really to blame?