Cincinnati Bengals Help End Longest Current Major Pro Sports Playoff Drought for Buffalo Bills

Entering New Year’s Eve, the Buffalo Bills not only needed to defeat the Miami Dolphins but also the Baltimore Ravens to lose to the Cincinnati Bengals to reach this year’s NFL playoffs. Despite some successful late-game plays by the Dolphins, the Bills escaped with a 22-16 win, but their playoff chances looked bleak as the Ravens were winning 27-24 in Baltimore with less than a minute remaining in the game and the Bengals were on a 4th-and-long play at midfield.

But that was when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton connected to wide receiver Tyler Boyd for a clutch 49-yard touchdown pass to ultimately defeat the Ravens 31-27.

The result led to the end of an 18-year playoff drought for the Buffalo Bills — prior to that Bengals pass, the longest postseason drought for any team in a major American professional sports league.

The Bills’ last playoff appearance was a crushing 22-16 loss to the Tennessee Titans in the infamous “Music City Miracle” game on Jan. 8, 2000.

View the clutch moment that propelled the Buffalo Bills into the playoffs: