Bills 41, Chiefs 7: Historical Perspective On The Blowout

After the Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs 41-7 on Sunday, many struggled to think back to some of the highest-scoring games for the team in the offensively-inept recent past. Even going all the way back to the team's founding in 1960, Sunday stands pretty high as one of the most dominant regular season performances in franchise history.

It was only the 36th time in team history that the Bills have scored more than 40 points. The last time Buffalo topped the mark was last season against the Cincinnati Bengals (49 points). Prior to that, the 2008 Bills trounced the Chiefs 54-31. It's happened only six times since 2000. (In looking at games in which the Bills scored more than 40 points, it jumped out that only one was during the 1980s - and even that was 1989.)

While points often tell the story of how the offense performed, the point differential is a measure of both the offense and defense, and Sunday's performance is in rarefied air. For only the tenth time in team history, the Bills beat a team by at least 34 points. The last occurrence was 2004, when the Bills pummeled the San Fransisco 49ers 41-7.

The last time Buffalo had a winning margin greater than 34 was a 38-0 win over the Indianapolis Colts in 1992 on their way to Super Bowl XXVII. Jim Kelly led the Bills' offense to six of those convincing 34-point-or-more wins. The other two came in 1966 and 1970.

The team record for points scored is 58, set in 1966 against the Miami Dolphins. The largest regular season margin of victory in team history is a 42-0 shutout of the Cleveland Browns in 1990.