After last night’s heartbreak loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and yet another field goal that went wide right, Buffalo Bills fans are becoming the most tortured fan base in the NFL. It’s worse than the Browns. It’s worse than the Lions (for the first time?). Reliving a historic Super Bowl loss 33 years later, something has got to change. And it’s not the kicker. The kicker is not the problem. 

Would the Bills have needed that game tying field goal if they played their Wild Card Weekend game on the original date? The Bills game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed 24 hours due to weather conditions. It was a reasonable postponement. But playing a day later meant one day less rest for the Bills. And rest really matters in all sports, none more so than football. Though they had home field advantage and a higher seed, the Chiefs benefited from the Buffalo Bills playing in Buffalo more so than the Bills. 

Does the Wild Card Weekend game get delayed if Highmark Stadium is a dome? 

I am in no way suggesting the Bills need to move out of Buffalo or even move to a new stadium. I’m just suggesting that a roof may help. Hell, it can be open during all games, it could be used just to prevent delays of any future playoff games.

Would a roof alter the character of Highmark? The stadium doesn’t even have a grass field, they’ve been playing on AstroTurf for the duration of the stadium’s existence, so even if the roof is closed, it would not even be a dramatic difference in play.

Most importantly (yes, this is more important than the actual game), a roof would not change anything about the Bills Mafia and their infamous tailgates (lots of shirtless dudes in freezing temps, a few doing wrestling moves through tables, etc.) so the character of the fan base would remain. The Mafia may say a dome is unnecessary but one Super Bowl victory will forever shut that talk down.

Bills Mafia heartbreak echoes Chicago Cubs heartbreak. Until the Cubs finally got lights installed at Wrigley Field during the 1988 season there was a pretty good theory that the North Siders playing all their home games during the day is why they weren’t able to get over that hump. Some said it was one of the reasons for their 1969 collapse. Sometimes a stadium alternation helps both the players and the psychic toll late season collapses hold over the franchise. In fact, the roofification of Highmark will most likely just be a superstitious alteration. And that’s perfectly fine. It worked for the Cubs. It may have taken a few more decades longer than expected, but it worked for the Cubs. It could work for the Bills.

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