“In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix must first burn.”—Octavia Butler
The 2025 season marks the 40th anniversary of quite possibly the worst team in Buffalo Bills history.
But more importantly, the lowest time in team history yielded the beginning of a fruitful era that has yet to be matched in the NFL.
Coming off a 2-14 record in 1984, the loathful 1985 Bills squad would finish with a 2-14 record once again, scoring the fewest points in in the league with 200 (the lowest of the decade) and finishing in the bottom three in offensive yards per game with 287.
Over the 16-game season, the Bills would fail to score in the double-digits seven times and the team’s scoring differential was -181, the third-lowest in team history.
After the 1984 season, the Bills released 12-year veteran quarterback Joe Ferguson, who had shown a gradual decline with increased interceptions since he led the team to the playoffs just three seasons earlier.
They handed the starting quarterback reigns to Vince Ferragamo, who had seen success with the Rams in previous seasons.
Ferragamo started the 1985 season with a 1-8 record, recording 186 passing yards per game, 5 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions before being benched for backup Bruce Mathison. Mathison then led the Bills to a 1-9 record with 127 yards per game, 4 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Wacky Wednesday~
Vince Ferragamo was brought to Buffalo after several playoff seasons with the Rams. After 9 starts, he lost the job to Bruce Mathison. 1985 was his only year with the Bills.
🔵Bills Stats: 1,677 yards 5 TDs & 17 INTs
🔴Best Game: 377 yards & 2 INTs (loss to SD) pic.twitter.com/CoaTeRCWKO— VintageBills (@VintageBills) December 20, 2023
Bills starting quarterbacks threw for 9 touchdowns (league-low) in 1985 and 31 interceptions (league-high).
The lone bright spot on the 1985 Bills offense was running back Greg Bell.
Entering his second season in the league and coming off a Pro Bowl rookie campaign that saw him rush for 1100 yards and 7 touchdowns, Bell became the offensive workhorse in 1985. He recorded 1,459 all-purpose yards on 281 touches.
Bell’s nine total touchdowns accounted for 41% of the team’s touchdowns in 1985.
The Bills defense fared better than their offense but were still bottom half of the league in points allowed and yards allowed.
Bruce Smith, who was drafted in 1985 in the first round by the Bills was a rare light for the team. He led the defense with 6.5 sacks and 4 fumble recoveries.
After an 0-4 start to the 1985 season, Bills head coach Kay Stevenson was relieved of his duties.
Stevenson was brought into Buffalo as their head coach in 1983 and amassed a 10-26 record before being fired.
His claim to fame for the Bills was changing their helmet color from red to white prior to the 1984 season, asserting the change would make it easier for quarterbacks to see their receivers down field. At the time, three of the four division rivals wore white helmets.
Stevenson’s firing cleared the way for Hank Bullough, who would finish the season with a 2-10 record.
Things would get brighter in 1986 for the Buffalo Bills.
Bill Polian, who was serving as the Bills’ pro personnel director, was promoted to general manager in December 1985.
Polian was the architect responsible for turning a small-market franchise with little fan interest after consecutive 2-14 seasons into division champions only two seasons later and eventual conference champions four seasons later.
After firing a retained Hank Bullough mid-season in 1986, Bill Polian would hire legendary coach, Marv Levy, who would go on to win 182 games as head coach for the Bills, winning six division titles and four conference titles.
#OTD in 1985 Bill Polian is hired as Bills General Manager, replacing Terry Bledsoe. The rest, as we say, is history. pic.twitter.com/EnUe6yvbrd
— ThisDateInBuffaloSportsHistory (@BuffSportsHstry) December 30, 2018
Future Hall of Famer, Jim Kelly, who was drafted by the Bills in 1983 only to shun them for the USFL, would become the Bills starting quarterback in 1986 and go on to be selected to five Pro Bowls and multiple All-Pro selections.
Another future Hall of Famer, Andre Reed, was drafted in 1985 by the Bills and would flourish beginning in 1986 with Kelly under center.
After a slow descent the two previous seasons, the Buffalo Bills franchise completely burned to the ground in 1985 and all that was left were smoldering ashes.
The promotion of Bill Polian to Bills general manager led to a metamorphosis that saw the team not only win their division year over year beginning just two seasons later but reach the Super Bowl four consecutive seasons—a feat that hadn’t been done before or since.