Everyone knows the Buffalo Bills, like most NFL teams, plan to rest the majority of their starters during Week 4 of the NFL’s tedious preseason slate of games.
But if the Bills (3-0) are able to get past the Minnesota Vikings (3-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday night at New Era Field, the team will have achieved a first in its storied history: completing the preseason with a perfect record.
After earning wins over the Indianapolis Colts (24-16), Carolina Panthers (27-14), and Detroit Lions (24-20), the Bills have started off with three straight preseason wins for the first time in 53 years.
The last time Buffalo was victorious in its first three preseason games: 1966, when the Bills knocked off the Boston Patriots, Denver Broncos, and Houston Oilers before falling to the Joe Namath-less New York Jets in the preseason finale.
That season’s squad finished the regular season with a 9-4-1 record before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs 31-7 in the AFL championship, therefore missing out on the chance to play in the first-ever Super Bowl.
If the Bills are to make franchise history, it will most likely come with undrafted rookie free agent Tyree Jackson, a University at Buffalo product, serving as the team’s primary quarterback.
Then again, most—if not all—of Buffalo’s fans would trade in a perfect preseason for an injury-free preseason finale heading into Week 1 of the 2019 season, when the Bills travel to face the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 8.