Sports Americana

January 27, 1991.

The Buffalo Bills were 15 seconds away from winning their first Super Bowl.

Scott Norwood lined up for a 47-yard field goal with the Bills trailing the New York Giants, 20–19.

The kick went wide right.

And with it went Buffalo’s first championship.

But what if it didn’t?

What if Norwood’s kick sailed straight through the uprights?

Suddenly, the Buffalo Bills aren’t remembered as the team that lost four straight Super Bowls.

They’re remembered as the team that won four straight.

Jim Kelly becomes a Super Bowl champion. So does Thurman Thomas. Bruce Smith. Andre Reed. Cornelius Bennett. Marv Levy.

And that’s where this alternate history gets really interesting.

The Bills returned to the Super Bowl the next three seasons.

They lost all three.

But imagine that first kick goes through.

Buffalo enters Super Bowl XXVI as the defending champion. Maybe that confidence changes everything. Maybe the Bills beat Washington.

Then comes Super Bowl XXVII against Dallas. The Cowboys were building a dynasty, but Buffalo arrives with a championship pedigree instead of the burden of having just lost the previous two.

And then, in Super Bowl XXVIII, Buffalo gets another shot at Dallas.

Four appearances.

Four victories.

Four straight Super Bowl championships.

The Bills become the defining dynasty of the early 1990s.

Jim Kelly isn’t remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks to never win a Super Bowl. He’s remembered alongside Montana, Bradshaw and the other champions.

Marv Levy isn’t merely the lovable coach who took Buffalo to four straight Super Bowls. He’s one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.

And Scott Norwood?

His name isn’t followed by “wide right.”

It’s followed by “Super Bowl champion.”

That’s the strange thing about sports history.

Sometimes an entire legacy can come down to a few inches.

One kick.

One moment.

One ball traveling slightly farther to the left.

If Scott Norwood makes that kick, the Buffalo Bills don’t become the answer to the trivia question about the team that lost four straight Super Bowls.

They become the answer to an even more remarkable one:

Who won four straight?

Buffalo.