Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady finds himself under the heaviest scrutiny in the league as he attempts to guide quarterback Josh Allen and his squad from perennial bridesmaid status to eventual champion, according to Sky Sports analyst Phoebe Schecter. The Bills have entered the current season with renewed optimism, eager to redeem the heartbreak they endured in the previous postseason when they fell to the Denver Broncos in an overtime thriller during the January Divisional Round. That loss was widely regarded as a premature end to what many believed could have been the franchise's best chance in years to break a long‑standing Super Bowl drought, especially given that traditional powerhouses such as Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs—absent from the playoffs for the first time since 2014—along with Lamar Jackson’s Ravens and Joe Burrow’s Bengals were also missing from the postseason picture. After nine seasons at the helm, Sean McDermott was dismissed, and the organization chose to promote from within, elevating offensive coordinator Joe Brady to the head‑coaching role.
"Josh Allen will have had a say with Joe Brady coming in and taking on that role," Schecter explained on the Inside the Huddle podcast. She added that the promotion was unusual, noting that it was "odd at the time in terms of how it happened, that kind of firing in order to promote from within." Since 2020, Allen’s Bills have suffered four Divisional Round exits and two AFC Championship defeats, four of those losses coming at the hands of the Chiefs. Despite those setbacks, the team has amassed 73 victories in that span—more than any other franchise in the NFL—largely powered by Allen’s dynamic playmaking and an offense that consistently ranks among the most lethal in the league.
In an effort to give Allen a true star receiver, Buffalo traded for Chicago Bears wideout D.J. Moore, a player who has not posted a 1,000‑yard season since 2023. Schecter highlighted the impact of that move, saying, "You look at what D.J.
Moore does for the team when you bring him in. That already elevates an offense that has never really had a star receiver.
They're still trying to keep that mentality, but you pair that with a fantastic running game. We saw James Cook all last season taking over, but it's a very interesting that we have so many teams in the AFC that were having a similar conversation around with your Lamar Jacksons, your Joe Burrows—when will these guys win a Super Bowl?" She went on to stress that the Bills carry the greatest expectation in the league: "Of all the teams, the most pressure is on Joe Brady in terms of the expectation is for him to get to a Super Bowl because they've always been the bridesmaid, never the bride.
It'll be fascinating to see how he manages that pressure, especially as they move deeper into the season. But everyone feels good about it. You've got a new stadium, you've got a new excitement around it and that kind of rejuvenation." Defensively, Buffalo made a bold move by hiring Jim Leonhard as its new defensive coordinator. Leonhard inherits a unit that saw several key veterans—Joey Bosa, A.J.
Epenesa, Matt Milano and Tre'Davious White—depart in the offseason. Jeff Reinebold of Sky Sports NFL praised the hire, stating, "Leonhard is the key to this whole deal. Jim Leonhard is a brilliant young coach, and if he can get that defense just a little bit better than it's been and better balance, this could be Buffalo's year." The Bills are not the only club feeling the weight of near‑misses.
The Cincinnati Bengals, led by quarterback Joe Burrow, sit alongside Allen’s Bills and Lamar Jackson’s Ravens as the league’s most prominent "nearly men." The Bengals have missed the playoffs for three straight seasons and have only managed a single postseason appearance since their loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. Burrow, who has missed 16 games over the past three years due to injuries, demanded urgency from his roster this offseason, hoping to maximize the potential of one of football’s most explosive passing attacks when he is healthy. Schecter noted Burrow’s situation: "He said it himself, we all know he's been injured so many times coming into this season, or they've had some big injury within the team, but the time is now and they've got to chase that success.
The biggest complaint last year was how they were putting so much money into this defense and they were probably the worst performing defense. But bringing in Boye Mafe, Jonathan Allen, you get Kyle Dugger from the Patriots, you've got a smart defense. You've got a safety who can now organise everybody." She continued, "They've got to be able to go down and capitalise on having this fantastic trio on offense with Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and go attack it. This city needs it.
The fan base are so desperate for it and you don't have an endless clock with Joe Burrow, especially seeing his injury rate over the past few seasons." All three franchises—Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Baltimore—are at a crossroads where talent, coaching changes, and roster upgrades converge. For the Bills, the combination of a newly minted head coach, an upgraded receiving corps, and a revamped defense could finally tip the scales in their favor. For the Bengals, health and defensive stability are the missing pieces that could transform a high‑octane offense into a championship contender.
And for the Ravens, the question remains whether Lamar Jackson can replicate his early‑career magic while surrounding himself with a more balanced supporting cast. As the 2026 NFL season unfolds, fans will watch closely to see which of these teams can shed the bridesmaid label and step into the spotlight as a true contender. The stakes are high, the pressure is palpable, and the narrative is set for a dramatic showdown that could finally deliver a Super Bowl trophy to a franchise that has waited far too long.