Josh Allen Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ESPN experts predict historic run to Super Bowl by Josh Allen's Bills

Originally posted on Buffalo Bills on SI
By Richie Whitt | Last updated Dec 29, 2025 1:25 PM ET

Despite his bad footwork and injured foot, Josh Allen is in position to follow in some hallowed footsteps.

NFL all-time great quarterbacks John Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady all led their Wild Card teams to the Super Bowl. Is Allen poised to do the same with the Buffalo Bills?

On the surface, there is a lot for Bills Mafia to mourn on this Monday after Sunday's deflating 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bills somehow lost a game in which they allowed only 16 yards in the second half. Allen had a chance to win it, but he inexplicably hurried and threw off-balance and off his back foot without pressure in his face on the game-deciding two-point conversion, badly missing open receiver Khalil Shakir in the end zone.

After the game Allen had x-rays take off his ailing foot. He says it's nothing to worry about, but the Bills need him 100-percent healthy for the road they are now forced to take.

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

With their five-year AFC East reign over, coach Sean McDermott's team will —barring crazy upsets— have to win three road games to reach Super Bowl LX. it feels daunting, especially given tight end Dalton Kincaid's health, the inconsistency at kicker, the fact that receiver Keon Coleman seems out of the picture and that Allen has never won a playoff game on the road (0-4).

But on ESPN Monday morning the clouds weren't as dark as expected.

"This is not the Bills' best team," said analyst and former NFL head coach Rex Ryan. "It's not their best offense. It's not their best defense. But it just might be their best chance."

Reasons for optimism? The much-maligned run defense bottled up Saquon Barkley Sunday. Allen - and Kincaid - get essentially a week off as the Bills play the awful New York Jets in a meaningless game. And, mostly, none of their potential road games in the playoffs - at the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots or Jacksonville Jaguars - have a quarterback named Patrick Mahomes.

Said analyst Dan Orlovsky, "If Dalton gets healthy, they absolutely can win three in a row on the road against these AFC teams."

The road to Super Bowl LX doesn't go through Highmark Stadium. But that doesn't mean there isn't a road.