For years, Josh Allen‘s playoff path was a gauntlet of future Hall of Famers. Allen has everything a franchise quarterback could want—except a clear path to the Super Bowl. Now, with his greatest rivals sidelined, that path has never been clearer, yet a career-long curse stands in his way. With the Bills currently sitting at 10-4 and locked into second place in the AFC East, the prize feels within reach. The chances look pretty high for Allen and the crew to punch their ticket. Could this finally be the year they break through? 

“Patrick Mahomes isn’t gonna be in the postseason this year. His [Josh Allen’s] nemesis is gone. We don’t know whether Lamar Jackson’s going to be there, but Joe Burrow’s not going to be there. So when we talk about the great quarterbacks in the game, most, if not all of them,  won’t even be in the postseason,” said NFL insider Adam Schefter on his podcast.

“So now Josh Allen has a chance in the postseason to go up against Bo Nix, Drake May, C.J. Stroud, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers, whoever it is. Is there any quarterback that I mentioned there in a matchup, a playoff matchup with Josh Allen, that you wouldn’t give the advantage to Allen to?” 

Since Allen’s sophomore year, he’s consistently taken this team to the playoffs every single year for six straight seasons, except his rookie year, when they missed out. Under coach McDermott, every postseason has ended in heartbreak. That on-the-road pattern makes this moment feel electric.

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Quarterback Joe Burrow is out too, with the Bengals sitting at 4-10 and third in the AFC North. Burrow’s return didn’t help as Cincinnati is rolling on a two-game losing streak after he came back in Week 13 from that early-season turf toe injury. 

Similarly, Lamar Jackson, leading the Ravens at 7-7 and second in the division, sees diminished hopes with the Steelers leading the division. However, the biggest break for Allen is that his main nemesis, the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, is sidelined with a knee injury. Plus, 6-8 KC is looking outside the playoffs. That opens a clearer lane for Allen to make a deep run, dodging the usual gauntlet.

Dig into Allen’s overall road record, and the signs actually look positive: he’s 37-25 away from Highmark across his career. But there’s little shot at the Bills winning the AFC East at this point, so a wild-card spot seems likely. If they land there as the No. 5 or No. 6 seed, Allen faces a brutal truth: he’s 0-4 in playoff road games with the Bills. 

Can Josh Allen finally crack his playoff curse?

Allen has been the rock-solid, reliable quarterback for the Bills since 2019. The dual-threat star hasn’t missed a single game and never finished a season with fewer than 10 wins in that stretch. So, per Schefter, this year turns into the ultimate test for him.

“This is a year in which Josh Allen faces his easiest test, but his hardest test. It’s the easiest test because all the great quarterbacks like Mahomes that blocked his path to a Super Bowl are not going to be in the postseason and still fighting to make it now,” he added.

The point hits home when you scan the pattern. Allen has dropped four playoff games straight to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Last season, the 13-4 Bills crushed two playoff foes at home but fell 29-32 in the AFC Championship Game at Kansas City. Every single loss for the 2024 squad came on the road. It’s like the playoffs flip a switch for Buffalo. 

They lost at Houston in the 2019 wild-card round. Then in 2020, the Bills suffered a similar gut punch as last season as they dropped the AFC Championship at Kansas City. Again in 2021, another loss at KC derailed their dreams. The only two playoff home losses for Allen came in 2022 to the Cincinnati Bengals and 2023 to the Chiefs.

Looking ahead, the Bills travel to Cleveland to face the 3-11 Browns at Huntington Bank Field. A win there keeps the momentum rolling into January, setting up Allen for that uncharted playoff path.