Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
These five NFL teams should be pretty good next season but are essentially a better quarterback away from winning Super Bowl 55 in February.
Every year, roughly half the teams have a semi-realistic chance of winning a Super Bowl. For some, it’s obvious, as the roster is loaded, the organization is well-run and the head coach/quarterback combo is strong. For others, they have a few of these great things going for them, but they catch wildly exceed their modest expectations.
But the big key here is quarterback play. Yes, having a great defense and being able to pound the rock once the weather changes is critical. However, most teams can only go as far as their starting quarterback will allow them to go. No, you don’t need a future Pro Football Hall of Fame signal-caller to win multiple playoff games, but you’ll need someone playing at an elite level to win it all.
So what we’re going to do today is look at five NFL teams who have a great roster, a strong head coach and a strong organization backing them up, but if they had a superior quarterback, they’d be certainly good enough to win a Super Bowl. Though any of these teams could technically do it next year, not having a top-eight quarterback will likely end up being their undoing in the end.
Without further ado, here are the five teams in the NFL in 2020 who would absolutely be capable of winning it all if they had a better quarterback. Perhaps one of these signal-callers will end up proving his constant doubters wrong and hoist the Lombardi Trophy down in Tampa next February, rubbing it in all of our faces, Nick Foles 2017 Philadelphia Eagles style?
5
Buffalo Bills
AFC East
The Buffalo Bills crack the top-five here mostly because we don’t know how high the ceiling is for quarterback Josh Allen entering year three out of Wyoming. The former top-10 pick has improved each year and helped Buffalo reach the AFC playoffs for the second time in three years last season. Frankly, Buffalo should win the AFC East for the first time since the 1990s next year.
Some may argue Buffalo is the third-best team in the AFC after the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. However, the gap between Buffalo and the upper tier of the AFC is massive. Buffalo may have a strong culture behind head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane. The defense is great, the Bills can run the ball, but what about the quarterback?
As currently constructed, the Bills can win their division and maybe a playoff game or two, with a definite ceiling of getting to the AFC Championship if either Baltimore or Kansas City stumble in January. Overall, the Bills can win with defense but don’t have the offensive firepower to keep pace with Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson in a postseason shootout. Allen will be toast.
It’s debatable how good of a quarterback the Bills would need over Allen to get to and win the Super Bowl. For the sake of simplicity, let’s go with a multi-time Pro Bowler who can put the team on his back on occasion and carry them to victory. This is an important year for Allen and the Bills. While he may see a quantum leap in his play this fall, Buffalo isn’t quite Super Bowl-caliber now.