By Mark Weiler

June 20th, 2007

Bills team owner Ralph Wilson recently made several things unmistakably clear. Whether intentional or not, Wilson more or less linked his passing, whenever that might be, with the end of the Bills era in Buffalo. While it may be somewhat gosh to formally link the two events, it is what it is. So how does this impact fans' hopes for this team?

Once again here, the Wysman’s opinions likely will not be popular ones, however they do dare strike at the heart of the matter for fans desirous of seeing good football once again in Erie County. They also call the proverbial spade a spade. Alas, in this way Wilson’s statements were not encouraging in just about any way.

Wilson has made it clear that although fully capable, his wife will not run the team nor will his children get the team to run it. To cut to the quick, Wilson will continue to run it as long as he is alive and it will be sold upon his passing. End of discussion!

Of course a gray area may exist should Wilson enter a phase where he is no longer mentally capable of making decisions in such a manner. If that situation were to arise it would be a good assumption that further issues only enter the equation complicating matters for the worse, not the better. Regardless, the assumption there would be that the team remains in Buffalo during any such time period.

Wilson has always been a very likeable personality in Buffalo in spite of his Detroit origins and lack of a hard connection to the Buffalo or even Western NY areas otherwise as is the case with many Western NY-ers both past and present. He has always fought a battle that on the surface appears to have been for the fans. After swinging the curtain open however and peeking at what’s behind it, the "man behind the curtain" becomes somewhat exposed in ways.

Ironically, if Wilson were half as interested in actually creating a winning team in Buffalo as he is in merely keeping a major league pro football team in Buffalo, then it would be refreshing and encouraging. Wilson, recently quoted as having stated "Football keeps me going," and "At my stage in the game, you’ve got to have something" appears more interested in the Bills as a hobby or passing interest to while away his remaining days than he is in actually putting a decent (minimally), and winning (preferably), team on the field.

No disrespect at all to Mr. Wilson, however the fans simply don’t care as to his own personal sentiments regarding his team. The NFL and therefore the Bills are and remain a business. He and his family have certainly benefited from that end of such a business relationship. He has turned a $25,000 investment into one worth approximately three-quarters of a billion dollars, a ballpark three-million percent increase. Why should the consumers, you know, the people paying for the product that is the Bills and having lined Wilson’s pockets over the years, and those on the other end of that relationship be left out in the cold as they are in many ways?

Certainly, it is in fact his team and therefore he is entitled to do with it what he wishes. If it were his goal to set a record for the number of times the team could actually finish winless and 32nd of 32 on average in the league for the remainder of the time that it is in Buffalo, then it would certainly be his right to do so. Clearly that would do little to satisfy the consumers of his business however.

Then again, they have done little since the era of "plan-A" free agency began to satisfy their consumers and unfortunately much more does not appear to be in the cards in that way now for as long as Buffalo has a franchise. In fact since the advent of full-fledged free agency, the situation has only worsened in Buffalo and continues to do so. What flummoxes the Wysman is why so many fans seem to consider the product that the Bills have put on the field lately entertainment. Upon attending games in the new millennium I have often left the stadium asking myself whether it was worth even merely taking the time to attend forget the cost aspect of it.

But at increased ticket and parking prices making attending a game for a single person, not even considering refreshments, merely ticket, parking, and travel expenses only, a $100-plus outing, one would think that there would be something viable in the mix to cater to those fans desperate to actually see a good team hit the field, not merely a team with half its starters really backup caliber players on most teams posing as starters for this one. Figure a family of four now costs near $400 and perhaps even more to attend a game.

Let’s face it, outside of the Bill Polian era, the Bills have not had anything even approaching a record of mediocrity let alone anything great. That’s a fact.

Had Polian never been promoted to GM then the Bills would have been one of the most floundering franchises in the history of the NFL with barely any playoff appearances (7) and only nine playoff games and a record of 2-7 outside of the Polian era product. That also assumes that Polian’s influence had worn off by the Bills’ ’95 season, their only other playoff win besides a wild-card round win in ’81, a poor assumption indeed.

Polian was never hand-selected by Wilson to be the GM. In fact, Polian only got the job due to the death of then GM Terry Bledsoe and Polian’s signing of Bruce Smith in Bledsoe’s place. Had Bledsoe never suffered a fatal heart attack, Polian likely would have never been given the opportunity to sign Smith and thereby take over the role of GM. He certainly would not have gotten it when he did which would have altered much. So giving particular credit to Wilson for placing Polian in the role is shaky at best.

The bottom line to all of this is that fans should expect little from these Bills while they remain in Buffalo. Wilson’s track record of putting a winning team on the field for any sustained period is only linked to Polian’s time in Buffalo and has no other basis in fact. Otherwise, and outside of the Polian era Bills, this team is easily among the worst franchises in the league since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. Again, that’s a fact.

In the 29 seasons outside of the direct impact of Polian which includes the ’93 season, the season immediately following the offseason during which he was fired, as well as the ’86 and ’87 seasons from whence he built a two-time 2-14 team into a Super Bowl contender, the Bills have had only 10 winning seasons in 29. Four of those were within the next six seasons of Polian’s departure with many Polian residuals.

In the 16 seasons prior to Polian’s arrival in Buffalo, the Bills were a combined 88—143 (.381) with only three playoff appearances and a 1-3 record in them with only one wild-card round win. Since Polian’s departure following the ’93 season, the Bills have gone 100-108 (.481) with only four playoff appearances in 13 seasons and a 1-4 record in them with once again only a wild-card round win in ’95, again, largely on residual Polian talent.

The team has not even so much sniffed the playoffs or won 10 games since the ’99 season, seven seasons now and counting/mounting prepared to tie a franchise record streak there with yet another non-playoff season which appears to be all but given. They have also not won a playoff game since the ’95 season, a full 12 seasons ago now, and again, on a team largely featuring Polian brought-on talent.

Many attribute current GM Marv Levy with credit for the success of the Bills in the late-‘80s-early-‘90s era, but Levy’s record in his last four seasons prior to his wisely retiring leaving whatever legacy there was mostly unbesmirched, the four seasons immediately following the season of Polian’s departure, Levy was 33-31 (.516) with only two playoff appearances, a 1-2 playoff record with his only win in the same wild-card round. Levy was 31-42 (.425) prior to joining the Bills. Levy’s success paralleled Polian’s and apart from that Levy never did anything worthy of note. It is not a coincidence that Levy’s "coaching ability" waned immediately following Polian’s departure. To think that Levy would have succeeded without Polian would be entirely naïve. On the flip side, many coaches could have led that era Bills team to the Super Bowl and lost, usually in grand fashion. The Bills began a steady decline the second that Polian departed in spite of Levy sticking around to merely prove the points made right here right now. Lastly, it is also highly likely that had the Bills had a better coach then they would have easily won a Super Bowl or perhaps two or three with the same exact team.

Polian on the other hand has been tremendously successful having most recently seen the fruit of his efforts, in another era of football altogether than when he was in Buffalo, namely the era of free agency, in leading the Colts to yet another Super Bowl for Polian. In the 9 years since Polian’s been in Indianapolis, he has managed to turn the Colts around from back-to-back inherited 3-13 seasons into Super Bowl champions with a record of 91-53 (.632) including his first 3-13 season with talent inherited by his predecessors, 88-40 (.688) following that season, 7 winning seasons, 7 playoff appearances, a 7-6 mark in the playoffs and a Super Bowl win.

The Bills meanwhile during that same time period have managed to go only 67-77 (.465) with only three winning seasons, again, two of which were ’98 and ’99, only one in the last seven seasons, and only two playoff appearances both ending in wild-card round losses. In fact, of Polian’s 19 seasons as GM or GM/President, his teams have played in his respective team’s conference championship 7 times and in the Super Bowl 4 times winning once. If one includes the ’93 season for the Bills, a reasonable inclusion, those numbers become 20 seasons with 8 conference championship game appearances and 5 Super Bowls, percentages of 40% for conference championship games and 25% for Super Bowls.

Ditto for Wilson as for Levy. The team has not only never done anything outside of the Polian era other than a rogue season or so, but has floundered miserably with one of the worst overall track records of any NFL team otherwise.

Meanwhile, Polian built the Bills team that went to the Super Bowl a record straight four times in spite of the fact that Levy could not convert one of those trips into a championship. Otherwise Polian would have had another championship ring or two added to his dossier. Polian then moved to Carolina where he took the expansion Panthers to the NFC Championship game in their second season of existence without precedence or even close, losing to the eventual NFL champs there against a team led by one of the all-time great QBs in Brett Favre.

He now sits atop the current NFL champions as team president after producing a team that has won at least 12 games in each of the last four seasons compiling a 50-14 (.781) regular season record, a 7-3 (.700) postseason record, and a 57-17 (.770) overall record during those four seasons.

Clearly the reason for the success of the Bills during the Super Bowl era was Polian, not Wilson or Levy. Polian has gone on to reap unprecedented as well as championship success otherwise while Wilson’s Bills and Levy’s Bills sans Polian and Levy’s Chiefs achieved not even mediocrity in Wilson’s case, and only mediocrity, usually less, but not an inch more for Levy, outside of their having been beneficiaries of Polian’s management.

So for fans that really don’t care about winning, purportedly the recent revelations offer some hope and good news for the remainder of the time that Wilson remains on in this world. But for fans hopeful for seeing some good football in Buffalo anytime soon, since "Bill Polians" don’t come along every day in the manner that he did, and given Wilson’s lack of responsible hiring if winning is the goal, they shouldn’t expect much. Clearly, according to Wilson’s own statements, conspicuously devoid of the words "winning" or "playoff caliber," those things are not a priority, whereas merely having a team to while away his remaining days appears to be the priority, at least for him. One is merely left to question whether there is even a fire for it any more in the geriatric owner’s mind. Few other businesses could afford to be operated effectively with such cavalier goals.

The question for fans merely content with "blah" caliber football in the interests of having a pro team in Buffalo, and given the high cost of attending games these days, a cost of say approximately $400 for a family of four, and frankly in an environment where bringing young children may not be wise, why not merely purchase Sunday Ticket or better yet, go to a nice sports bar on Sundays for a very nice meal and to watch some quality football being played instead of the slop which apparently is all that is in store for Bills fans, who apparently don’t register on Wilson’s list of concerns other than "to have a pro team?" At least they’d get a nice meal and some change for their $100 per head costs otherwise. I mean the question is posed to the reader, is that all that you, a Bills fan, truly care about, namely simply "having a pro football team in Buffalo?" Sad if so to be frank and certainly an indictment of the fans if so and if a sentiment shared en masse.

While the recent revelations offered up by Wilson might be considered good news by some, the Wysman finds no comfort at all in his words. Expectations for slop-ball, sorry management, poor coaching, and que sera sera decision making by the "hobby owner" Wilson will be the status quo until he relinquishes control of his team, which by his own statements and admission, will be when he leaves this world.  

Whatever hopes fans had evaporated with Wilson’s horrendous selection, which was poo-poo’d right here, of "team overseer" Tom Donahoe, the author of the Donadope era of Bills football. Wilson needed exactly that, someone to turn the team over to. But once again, Wilson’s decision making in this area fell as flat as his team has outside of the Polian era Bills. His history in similar decision making with his direct hires for GMs is equally abysmal. Naturally, Wilson’s trigger-shyness in this way is understandable to an extent, while equally dejecting is his seeming inability to make a sound and solid hire even if he could find his way to pull that trigger again. This has left the Wilson era of the Bills snakebit as it were.

So in essence, and as a result, fans have no hope. For as long as Wilson remains on as owner, read as long as he lives, except by accident, this team is going nowhere barring some other purely accidental personnel mishap, and even then, what would be the odds that someone capable is lined up now in the right spot to acquiesce to greatness on this team. Polian haled from being the director of personnel. The current highest office holders of that and related positions within this organization are among the most primary reasons for why the stench of this team’s stink rises miles into the sky.

Furthermore, Wilson’s faculties are not going to improve only hindering his decision making even further as the 88-year old owner continues to age. Apparently, once Mr. Wilson passes, the hopes for the team remaining on in Buffalo will be entombed right alongside him. So it just isn’t looking good.

For those more interested in a soap opera of sorts about a long-time "nice guy" owner of an NFL team, the future of the Bills might be acceptable. For true football fans desirous of seeing the Buffalo Bills once again make inroads into becoming a premier NFL team, plenty of luck is going to have to occur to make that a reality in Wilson’s lifetime or after it.

As to the Bills’ future in Buffalo AW, "After Wilson" as Buffalo Sports columnist Mark Gaughn put it, it indeed remains bleak. If the Buffalo region did not have a team already, it is beyond conceivable that in the shrinking economy induced by liberal politics forcing the major demographic for advertisers to flee from the region like Germans fleeing the Russians at the end of WWII, that Buffalo or Western NY would even make the short list let alone get selected for a team. So it then becomes all but a foregone conclusion that once Wilson passes, the team leaves town after being awarded to the highest bidder who in every likelihood will not either be from Buffalo or desire to keep the team in an economic climate that is an uphill struggle when other far more suitable, growing, and viable ones exist.

The phrase "damned if you do, damned if you don’t" comes to mind. Frankly, the fans that have supported Wilson and his team deserve better than to merely "have a presence" lacking much else simply to be able to say that they have a professional football team in the city/region. But hey, I guess to hope, yea demand, even more, particularly while it is not all that difficult a feat as long as the right people are hired to get the job done, is to be pessimistic and negative!

Ironically, hope is now scant in Buffalo insofar as the Bills go, before or after Wilson’s tenure as team owner. While that is no surprise right here where exactly as much has been stated in the past, at least we as fans know with certainty exactly where things stand now that the air has been cleared.

The net result of it all is that for fans hoping to actually see the team return to an era of contention in the NFL other than perhaps in a single season ‘hiccup" of sorts for one reason or another besides that of actually having a decent team, any such hopes live and die with Wilson. Unfortunately it’s a six-in-one, half-dozen-in-the-other type of proposition with neither presenting much of an offer to get excited about. Either during Wilson or AW, the results will clearly be identical for those wanting and expecting competitive NFL football in the WNY/Buffalo region. Which raises another question altogether; if this is all we’re going to get, then why bother getting too excited about a product that is destined to fail perpetually.

mweiler@afceastreport.com