Coming into the 2005 NFL season, many of the so-called experts predicted, at the very least, that the Buffalo Bills would earn an AFC wild card berth and a trip to the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 Season. You might remember Buffalo's last postseason game. It's known as the Music City Miracle. Since that fateful game, the franchise has gone downhill, and 2005 is no exception to the rule.

This year was supposed to be the year that finally broke the Bills out of their funk. The slow, clumsy, and aging Drew Bledsoe was left behind, and the reins were being handed over to the young, brash and athletic J.P. Losman. The team had a new feel, a new swagger.

The number two- ranked total defense in the NFL last season had promised bigger and better things. Coach Mike Mularkey had shown progress while almost leading the Bills to a miraculous comeback from an 0-4 start to just miss the playoffs in 2004. All of these things were supposed to be good signs for the Bills. Unfortunately, not a single one of them came true.

The Bills problems in 2005 began (with the exception of a week 1 handling of the bottom-feeding Texans) with the puzzling and poor play of Losman. Losman completed 17 of 20 passes against Houston and began the season on a high note with a touchdown pass to Jason Peters on a tackle eligible play.

Then the downward spiral began. Losman was 22 out of 52 in his next two games against good defenses in Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Then, against New Orleans in Week 4, he was benched in the third quarter in favor of Kelly Holcomb.

Although the stats look bad, the play on the field was worse. Losman was horribly inaccurate, missing open receivers and having anxious feet in the pocket. He showed no poise, no ability to read a defense, and he struggled mightily at getting the team in the end zone (Rian Lindell led the AFC in field goals through the first 4 weeks). He lost respect from his veteran wide receiver Eric Moulds, who openly called for Holcomb to start.

Buffalo, which had the second-ranked defense in the NFL in 2004, came into the season loaded with talented veterans such as Nate Clements, Lawyer Milloy, London Fletcher, Troy Vincent, Aaron Schobel, and the emotional leader Takeo Spikes. However, a big name was missing from the 2005 roster, and I mean big.

Pat Williams and Sam Adams stuffed the middle of the line all year for the defense in 2004, but Williams was a free agent after last season and signed a contract with Minnesota in the offseason. No one could have imagined how much of an impact his departure would have.

The Bills defense allowed 128 yards to rookie Cadillac Williams in week 2, and in week 3 allowed 236 yards to the lethal combo of Michael Vick, Warren Dunn and T.J. Duckett of Atlanta. Week 3 also brought more bad news for the Bills as Spikes injured his ACL and found out he would miss the rest of the season. Without the services of Spikes, the defense dropped to last in the NFL against the run, but the pass defense was as good as ever.

Buffalo was ranked as high as second in the NFL against the pass at one point in the season, but the week 10, 48-10 blowout in San Diego exposed a weakness on that front also. The sudden disappearance of Clements, in that game and in week 12 in which Chris Chambers torched the Bills for 237 yards on 15 receptions, is puzzling. Clements is due to be a free agent after this season, and has openly stated that he would like to be the most highly paid corner in the league, but the way he has been playing isn’t going to get him what he wants.

Mularkey can’t seem to get anything right in Buffalo. With a 4th and 10 late in the New England game, Holcomb threw for two yards. With a 4th and 1 in the Carolina game, a trick play fails. With a 1st and goal in the most recent Miami game, Losman rolls out and throws an interception that turns out to be the difference in the game.

Fans in Buffalo are upset with the way Mularkey handles the game. He seems to call the wrong play at the wrong time, and it seems as though some of it must be chalked up to bad luck, or great play by the opposing defense. Mularkey is on thin ice in Buffalo, and now that the Bills are almost guaranteed to miss the playoffs this season, he may be on his way out.

The Buffalo Bills seemed to have the pieces in place to make a run at the Super Bowl in 2005, and their sudden demise seems almost beyond reality. Who knows, maybe the Bills have the newest sport’s "curse" -- the "Curse of the Music City." They still have the big names on offense and defense, but they inexplicably and consistently struggle with fundamentals, such as penalties and red zone offense and defense. Also, they don’t seem to have the intangibles, shown by their inability to close out Miami and their struggles in the second half of games this season.

The end of this season will be a key time period for the Bills franchise. Losman has looked loads better in the last three games than he did at the beginning of the season, so right now all the Bills can hope for at 4-8 is a good draft this year and more development from Losman during these last few games and in the offseason.

Clements will probably be back (Buffalo will probably give him the "franchise tag"), as will Spikes from his injury, so the defense still looks like it will be in good shape at the beginning of next season.

Buffalo fans are tired of looking at next year though, so hopefully the positive outlook for 2006 won’t turn into another article like this one in week 12 of next season.