Don’t let three losses in four games stop you from being confident. That’s the message Buffalo Bills fans are sending in this week’s FanPulse polling from SB Nation.
Despite only one win in the last month, the Bills enter the playoffs with the sixth-most-confident fan base in SB Nation and an 89% optimism number. It’s true that not everyone votes on just the current season when you’re asked “How confident are you in the direction of the team?”, but it still is a surprisingly high number for a Bills fan base that has felt downtrodden for so long. (Maybe that’s why they are optimistic about the future.)
Ahead of the Bills are fans of the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints at 100% fan confidence. San Francisco 49ers (99%) and Kansas City Chiefs (96%) fans are also pretty high on their teams. Three of the top four teams in the rankings have first-round byes while fans of the Green Bay Packers, the 2 seed in the NFC, are at just 54%.
The Tennessee Titans fans are the last fan group ahead of the Bills with an 89% fan optimism rating. Elsewhere in the AFC playoff race, fans of the New England Patriots are down to 31% while Houston Texans fans are at just 27%.
Folks at The Phinsider and Mile High Report are excited about how their seasons ended, bumping up the Miami Dolphins (81%) and Denver Broncos (83%) into the top tier of teams.
The New York Jets’ Week 17 win over Buffalo’s backups actually decreased fan optimism over there, with Gang Green Nation falling from 13% to 9%.