Sept. 12, 2004 – Jaguars 13, Bills 10
It certainly didn’t take long for new head coach Mike Mularkey to get a taste of some the madness and frustration that had engulfed the Buffalo Bills at the start of their 17-year playoff drought.
Opening day at the stadium and Drew Bledsoe had everything set in his mind once the Bills finished off the Jaguars. “I really thought long and hard about how gratifying it was going to be to walk in here and hand Mike Mularkey a game ball after this first game at home,” Bledsoe said.
Well, that was going to have to wait because the Bills suffered an absolutely galling 13-10 loss to Jacksonville when Byron Leftwich completed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Wilford on the final play of the game.
There have obviously been so many horrendous losses suffered by the Bills through the years, especially during this dark period in franchise history, but this one was without question one of the worst.
With 1:18 remaining, the Jaguars were confronted with fourth-and-14 at their own 34 and with the crowd in full-throated roar, it seemed like an impossible predicament, especially for a Jacksonville offense that had gained only 164 yards to that point. But Leftwich heaved a Hail Mary down the left sideline for Jimmy Smith, hoping for an interference penalty. Cornerback Nate Clements did well to avoid contact, but rather than knock the ball out of harm’s way which he easily could have done, he tried for an interception and the experienced Smith took advantage of that mistake and out-fought Clements for the ball for a 45-yard gain.
With new and unexpected life, the Jaguars converted a fourth-and-2 on a Leftwich pass to Troy Edwards that moved the ball to 7, but the Buffalo defense rose up and forced three straight incompletions, so once again it was fourth down, and there was time for just one more play.
Buffalo had it defended well as Takeo Spikes, Izell Reese and Coy Wire were all surrounding Wilford, yet somehow he leaped and made the catch, then completed the play by keeping his feet off the end line to win the game.
Let the vomiting begin.
“Anytime you lose it’s tough,” said linebacker London Fletcher. “Is that the toughest loss I’ve had? I don’t know, I lost in a Super Bowl (with the Rams). But I can’t ever remember losing a football game like that.’’
For Mularkey, it was heartbreaking because the defense had been so outstanding until that final drive.
“I told the team that I was as disappointed as they were,” Mularkey said. “This is one of those emotional lows that I spoke about with the guys. It’s a fine line between wins and losses and if this game wasn’t proof of that statement, I don’t know what is.’’
The Bills would go on to lose their first four games of Mularkey’s initial season but then they went on a tear and won nine of 11 including six straight, all of which set the stage for the perfect bookend to 2004. It was a year that began with a brutal loss, and it ended with an even more brutal loss because their Week 17 failure at home against the Steelers cost the Bills a chance to earn a playoff berth, the closest they would get during the 17-year drought.
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Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Top games in stadium history: A game ball denied as Bills collapse in coach’s debut
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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