Fans of the Buffalo Bills can look at Mike Holmgren's signing as president of the Cleveland Browns in one of two ways...

Either Holmgren was looking for the biggest challenge available and found it in Cleveland, meaning there is more talent in Buffalo and, thus, a reason to expect them to return to the playoffs sooner than their Lake Erie neighbors to the west. 

Or, if Bills fans are to look at the situation through glasses that are not quite so rose-colored, as they have been conditioned to do over the past decade, Holmgren's signing in Cleveland exposes myriad questions for the immediate future of professional football in western New York.

The Bills were the first team to dive headfirst into the deep end of the coaching whirlpool when they fired Dick Jauron and promoted Perry Fewell on an interim basis. A fleeting period of hope and excitement ensued when they then proceeded to meet with Mike Shanahan for a reported seven hours.

If Shanahan sat through seven hours of Chief Operating Officer Russ Brandon's best sales pitch and was still not convinced he wanted to come to Buffalo, it makes you wonder why.

Now the possibility of landing Shanahan seems even less likely as the Washington Redskins have begun their courtship of him.

This raises an interesting question: Other than timelessly awesome uniforms, what do the Redskins and Browns have that the Bills do not? 

Brandon apparently had seven hours of material prepared, much of it centered on market sustainability, so the theory that the Bills are leaving Buffalo doesn't appear to hold much water (either that, or that dude has taken the gift of gab to unprecedented levels). By all accounts, it would appear that the Jacksonville Jaguars are a more likely candidate to catch the first flight to Los Angeles when it arrives at the gate. 

Also, the idea that the Bills could become the NFL's first international team in a move to Toronto, though the Bills uniforms bear a startling resemblance to those of the CFL's Argonauts, gains less steam every time they play a game in an overwhelmingly unenthusiastic Rogers Centre. The NFL has given Canada two divisional games in as many years and it has given the NFL a collective yawn in return.

It can't possibly be the fan bases of these cities that set them apart because, even though just about every team in the wildly popular NFL has a huge number of loyal fans, one would be hard-pressed to find a more passionate and dedicated football community than the one in Orchard Park, NY. Check the tape of the Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs game a couple weeks ago and you'll see and incredible amount of empty seats. However, you didn't see them a week later when the New England Patriots came to Buffalo.

Cleveland and Washington boast proud traditions of loyal patronage, but the Bills are in the process of missing the playoffs for the 10th year in a row and, if they sell out Ralph Wilson Stadium against the potentially undefeated Indianapolis Colts on January 3, they will have sold out the entire season. In fact, to look back over the past decade of mediocrity and on-the-field inconsistency, steadfast fan support has been the only constant in Buffalo.

Every franchise in need of a new coach has problems that need to be confronted and resolved; it is a prerequisite for teams in that predicament. But, look at what Buffalo has going for it on the field. 

It is a team rich in young talent at important positions. Two rookies, Eric Wood and Andy Levitre, started the year on the offensive line, rookie Shawn Nelson has made tremendous strides at tight end, and rookie Jairus Byrd was well on his way to being the Defensive Rookie of the Year at safety.

The Bills have two feature backs in the prime of their careers in Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson, a humbled Terrell Owens who is willing to play another year in Buffalo, and one of the league's elite deep threats in Lee Evans. It also has emerging defensive stars in Paul Posluszny and Leodis McKelvin, and one of the league's most consistent kickers in Rian Lindell, who, along with Brian Moorman, leads a special teams unit that rivals any in the league. 

The obvious hole in the roster is at quarterback, but rookies around the league have seen immediate success at this position in recent history, so there's reason to believe that, with the right guy, it could happen in Buffalo, too.

The unfortunate reality is that these surface positives may actually indicate deeper negatives. Optimists see a team that is simply unlucky. A 5-9 team in a highly competitive division with an astounding 19 players on the injured reserve list that has had to deal with coaching chaos in the middle of a season. 

Better luck, clearer focus, and perhaps a better strength and conditioning program would help resolve these issues. But, many coaching and front office candidates, positions Bills fans want filled by men with Super Bowl credentials, want a real fixer-upper. They want to be "The Man" responsible for rebuilding a franchise from scratch, as Bill Parcells is in the process of doing in Miami. 

This appears to be the case with Holmgren, and just might be the case with Shanahan and Bill Cowher (seriously Bill, are Buffalo and Pittsburgh that different that you won't even consider coming here?).

That Buffalo has rabid fans is not news, and is generally something of which western New York should be proud. Yet, there is an increasingly vocal segment of that population that views repeated sell-outs and unwavering support as signs of acceptance of a below average product on the field.

Bills fans will, for better or worse, continue to go to games regardless of the performance displayed on the field. Why? Maybe it's because Bills fans take advantage of the fact that they get to park their cars, drink beer, wait in absurdly long bathroom lines, and watch NFL games live for a fraction of the cost that most cities' fans do. Or, maybe, as that old turncoat Willis McGahee would have you believe, Bills fans go in droves to Ralph Wilson Stadium for seven Sundays a year because they simply have nothing better to do.

Buffalo does all it can to support the two major professional sports franchises that it has, but the fact the term "market sustainability" even exists in these conversations is a problem in and of itself. It's a niche city that sees its glory days smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror with every Jim Kelly or Bruce Smith bust unveiled in Canton, and every Mike Williams or J.P. Losman bust in the first round of the draft. 

However, it is a city that is lucky to have the Buffalo Bills and needs to hang on to them by whatever means necessary. It needs to show potential coaches and front office men that this is a great place to be; that it is a place where they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities without a meddling omnipresence in the ownership position.

Buffalo prides itself on being a city synonymous with snow and ice, but it must now prove that ice is not nearly as thin as it may appear.