RYAN DUNNING
Special to the Leader
Another week, another sad, sad Sunday as a Buffalo Bills fan.
It’s been a few weeks since we covered the Bills, mostly because we want to forget every game immediately after it ends.
The latest chapter for this disaster of a season saw the Bills hosting the Bears, who came into the game 4-3 on the season.
It was an absolute bloodbath.
Following Derek Anderson’s injury, the starting quarterback was the legendary Nate Peterman.
Peterman played as advertised. Averaging 3.8 yards per attempt, and throwing three interceptions.
The rushing was just as bad. Peterman beat out LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory for the leading rusher, adding 46 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Despite the scoreline, the defense actually played alright. Holding the Bears to only 190 yards, the defense was set up for failure by the offense. The Bears had amazing starting field position all day.
The Bears have shown what a good rebuild should be all about.
With two solid rushers in Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard, and Mitch Trubisky seeming like their franchise QB, they have built an offense that ranks ninth in points per game.
On the other side of the ball, they traded for Khalil Mack, the best pass rusher in the league.
The Bills, on the other hand, seem to be stumbling through their seemingly endless rebuild.
The young, promising defense has been able to keep them in some games, such as week eight’s Monday night matchup against the Patriots, but has a LOT of work to do.
The offense has been embarrassing. Starting Nate Peterman in a real football game should be illegal, but the Bills still haven’t tapped into the free agent market for potential replacements.
What do we have to look forward to?
Josh Allen returned to practice last week, his first participation of any sort since his week six injury. Although this is good news, GM Brandon Beane still hasn’t ruled out Allen’s season being over.
The remaining schedule holds two games against the Jets (3-6), two with the Dolphins (5-4) and single games against the Patriots (6-2), Jaguars (3-5) and Lions (3-5).
Although all of these teams, excluding the Patriots, have looked very beatable this year, it doesn’t seem likely that the Bills will be able to pull together enough of an offense to win many games.