The Buffalo Bills are all set for success. Almost all bookmakers in the USA have the Bills as favourites to win the Super Bowl and quarterback Josh Allen as the favourite to win the MVP award. But there are dangers in that: The window for Super Bowl victory is small.

Munich/Buffalo – “We know there’s pressure on our team,” Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on the sidelines of the final days of preseason training camp.

Pressure that hasn’t been felt in Buffalo for a long time. At least not to this extent. Ahead of the season opener at the reigning champion Los Angeles Rams, everyone involved is certain: anything less than a Super Bowl appearance would be a disappointment.

First the AFC East, now the entire division

Though the dream of a Super Bowl in Western New York State was long a utopia. After four losses in the finals for the Vince Lombardi Trophy between 1991 and 1994, the Bills plummeted in sporting terms. In the AFC East, especially in the 2000s, there was no getting past the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, who as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants had already been instrumental in one of the Bills’ Super Bowl defeats.

However, the Patriots have long since left the Bills behind and have shown who is now boss in the AFC East ring with two clear victories in the past two meetings, when the Bills did not have to punt once.

Nearly tragic, however, was last season’s Divisional Round elimination against the Kansas City Chiefs after overtime. So tragic, in fact, that the overtime rules in the playoffs were changed because of that game.

Now it should go at least one step further – and it actually has to go one step further if you look at the Bills’ roster. That’s because it’s impressing even experts. “We’ve got playmakers here everywhere you look,” Willie McGinest, a former Super Bowl champion with the Patriots, raved about the Bills on NFL Network.

La Rams role model: putting all your eggs in one basket

Not only do the Bills have a dozen players in the shape of their lives, but they’re about to get the salary of a lifetime. Quarterback Josh Allen, receiver Stefon Diggs, cornerback Tre’Davious White, safety Jordan Poyer and pass rusher Von Miller alone will take up much of the Bills’ cap space in the coming years. And whether they’ll necessarily be better than they are now is at least an open question.

Accordingly, all of Buffalo wants the Super Bowl, as quickly as possible. The model is supposed to be the first opponent, the Rams. In recent years, they have also gone “all in” on winning the Super Bowl – and, thanks to the last piece of the puzzle, Matthew Stafford, they also won it last season.

Jene’s final piece of the puzzle could be outside linebacker Von Miller, who came from the same Rams and signed a retirement contract in Niagara Falls. He is expected to address the biggest weakness on the team, analogous to the Rams in 2021. In California it was the quarterback, on the Canadian border it was the pass rush.

The final parallel the Bills would like to see: Sure, hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy in February.

After all the hype, all the contract extensions and all the talent the Bills have, anything less would just be a disappointment.