The 2004 Buffalo Bills season was their 45th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. The team improved upon their previous season's output of 6–10, finishing 9–7. However, this was the fifth straight season in which the team missed the playoffs. Buffalo needed a win in the final game of the season against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

to qualify for the playoffs. However, despite the Steelers playing their third-stringers (which, notably, included Willie Parker, who would have his breakout performance in the game), Buffalo lost and subsequently missed the playoffs. It was the only winning season that Buffalo had in the 2000s (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

–

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

) and would be the Bills' last winning season until 2014. According to

Football Outsiders Football Outsiders (FO) is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics ...

, who has tracked every play in the NFL since the early 1990s, the 2004 Bills were statistically the best NFL team (in their record-keeping history) to have failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Bills set an NFL record by returning six kickoffs for touchdowns in 2004. Their match with the Miami Dolphins in Week 6 is the only time in the NFL since

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

that the last two winless teams have met each other. As of 2023, the only remaining active members of the 2004 Buffalo Bills are offensive lineman Jason Peters, wide receiver Jonathan Smith, and offensive lineman Lawrence Smith, although Jonathan Smith is a free agent who hasn't played an NFL game in 16 years, and Lawrence Smith hasn't played an NFL game in 18 years.

Offseason

Free Agency

The Bills failed to re-sign guard

Ruben Brown Ruben Parnell Brown (born February 13, 1972) is a former American football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 14th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He played college footba ...

and cornerback

Antoine Winfield Sr. Antoine Duane Winfield Sr. (born June 24, 1977) is a former American football cornerback who played 14 years in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State University, earning consensus All-American honor ...

Both would end up signing with NFC North teams, with Brown signing with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and Winfield signing with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. To replace the departed players, the Bills signed former

guard Chris Villarrial and former

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

cornerback

Troy Vincent Troy Darnell Vincent (born June 8, 1970) is a former American football cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Dolphins as the 7th ...

NFL Draft

The Bills drafted future starters Lee Evans from

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

J. P. Losman Jonathan Paul Losman (born March 12, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback. Losman played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at UCLA and Tu ...

from Tulane in the first round of the 2004 Draft. Buffalo also signed undrafted

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

Jason Peters from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and converted him into a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

. Buffalo traded their 2004 second round pick and

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first round pick to move into position to draft Losman.

Roster

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1

Standings

References

Buffalo Bills seasons

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

Buff {{Americanfootball-season-stub