The Bills began the season as the worst team in the league, starting 0-8 before finally beating the Lions by 2 week 10. The Bills would go on to win 4 of their next 6 games, but some argue that wasn’t in the best interest of the franchise. The Bills finished the season 4-12, out of reach of the #1 overall draft pick and Andrew Luck. Ryan Fitzpatrick was decent at times this year, but it was glaringly obvious on many occasions that he’s not the guy who can take this time back to the playoffs.

Overall they had their ups and downs this season. The 0-8 start was certainly depressing, but from week 6 to week 15, they only lost one game by more than 3 points. Losses to the Jets (38-14 and 38-7) as well as 7 turnovers in a 34-3 loss to the Patriots week 16, were certainly low points for this team.

Ryan Fitzpatrick grew a bit of a cult following with the fans in Buffalo. Here was a scrappy kid, a career backup from Harvard who didn’t have all the physical skills, but could get the job done, and the fans loved that when he won, but in their losses his flaws were easily identifiable, namely that he lacked the ability to consistently throw an accurate deep ball. Fitz will probably remain the quarterback in 2011, but they need to look at alternatives for the future. It helps Fitzpatrick’s chances that coach Chan Gailey really likes him and, for the time being, it seems Gailey’s job is safe despite the 4-12 record.

This team has a long way to go before it can become a playoff team, but with a strong draft this year they can work way their way there. A new quarterback is needed, but so are a lot of other things. This isn’t a one year fix, but if it’s fixed right, they can make the playoffs in 2 or 3 years, something this team hasn’t done in a long time.