NFL Old School Game of the Week: Bills Clinch AFC East Title with Win over 49ers

Fans greet the Buffalo Bills after their 18-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers clinched the AFC East title for Buffalo.

As the Buffalo Bills traveled to San Francisco to take on the 49ers in the final week of the 1980 regular season, the Bills had a chance to do something they had not done since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970: win a division championship.

The Bills came into Week 16 with a 10-5 record needing a win or tie over the 49ers to secure the first division title for Buffalo since they won the Eastern Division title in the American Football League in 1966.

The Bills were led by head coach Chuck Knox, who after a five-year tenure with the Los Angeles Rams in which he led LA to five straight NFC West titles and three trips to the NFC Championship Game, left to become the Buffalo head coach in 1978.

After two straight losing seasons, the Bills become winners in 1980 as they ended a 20-game losing streak to the Miami Dolphins with a 17-7 over Miami in Week 1 as Buffalo jumped out to a 5-0 start.

The key to the Bills' turnaround was their defense which ranked first in fewest yards allowed as led by the trio of nose tackle Fred Smerlas and inside linebackers Jim Haslett and Shane Nelson, otherwise known as the "Bermuda Triangle" as opposing running backs could not get past this trio.

On offense, the Bills were led by quarterback Joe Ferguson, who had been the Buffalo starting quarterback since 1973 and running back Joe Cribbs who had rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie season.

However, Ferguson's status for the game against the 49ers was a question mark as he had sprained his left ankle in the first quarter of the Bills' 24-2 loss to the New England Patriots the week before.

While the Bills were hoping that their franchise quarterback could give it a go, the 49ers had no such issues at quarterback as they had found their quarterback of the future in Joe Montana.

Entering his third NFL season, Montana was named the 49ers starting quarterback by second year head coach Bill Walsh in the seventh week of the 1980 season in the midst of an eight-game losing streak for the 49ers.

While the 49ers were destined for their fourth straight losing season and seventh in eight years, San Francisco fans were given a glimmer of hope two weeks before the game with the Bills as Montana led the 49ers back from a 28-point halftime deficit to lead San Francisco to a 38-35 overtime win over the New Orleans Saints in what was at the time the greatest comeback in NFL history.

San Francisco came into their final game of the 1980 season with a 6-9 record as they had hoped to spoil the Bills' hopes of reaching the playoffs for the first time since 1974 on a muddy field in Candlestick Park.

 After the 49ers went three-and-out to start the game, the Bills would get the ball at their 24-yard-line when Ferguson handed the ball off to Cribbs, who took around the left side for a 48-yard run, his longest run of the season to put Buffalo at the San Francisco 28-yard-line after just one play.

Cribbs would run the ball on the next three plays, picking up 12 yards, before Curtis Brown get a carry for six yards to set up 3rd & 3 at the 49ers' 10-yard-line when Ferguson throw his first pass of the game which would be a touchdown to wide receiver Jerry Butler to give Buffalo a 6-0 lead as Nick Mike-Meyer's extra point would bounce off the upright.

The 49ers would begin their ensuing possession at their 23-yard-line as San Francisco would drive down the field with the help of a couple of Buffalo penalties as defensive end Sherman White would be called for roughing the passer to add 15 yards to an 11-yard pass from Montana to running back Earl Cooper to put San Francisco in Buffalo territory at the Bills' 38-yard-line.

Two plays later, Montana would complete a three-yard pass to running back Lenvil Elliott when linebacker Isiah Robertson would be called for unnecessary roughness to help put the 49ers at the Bills' nine-yard-line where they had a 1st & goal.

The 49ers would move to the four-yard-line where they faced 3rd & goal when Montana handed the ball off to Cooper, who took up the middle and fumbled the football before crossing the goal line as Smerlas would recover the fumble.

However, the referees ruled that Cooper had crossed the goal line before he fumbled the football even though replays showed that was not the case, as the controversial touchdown tied the game at six.

A holding penalty would push the 49ers back 10 yards for Ray Wersching's extra point which would bounce off the left upright to keep the game tied at six with 6:14 left in the first quarter.

Despite a gimpy ankle, Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson would complete 12 of 20 passes for 102 yards and throw one touchdown pass.

The Bills would hold the ball for the rest of the first quarter as they would drive from their 27-yard-line to the 49ers' 40-yard-line before punting the ball on the first play of the second quarter back to San Francisco, who would take over at their 20-yard-line as the Buffalo defense would force a three-and-out to give their offense the ball at the 49ers' 43-yard-line.

But the three-and-out would be costly as Nelson would be lost for the game with a broken right wrist as he was replaced by former Raider linebacker Phil Villapiano.

The Bills would drive down the field behind the right arm of Ferguson as the veteran quarterback would complete a 14-yard pass to Frank Lewis, then hit tight end Mark Bremmer on two straight 3rd down situations, to help set up a four-yard touchdown run by Brown that with a successful extra point gave Buffalo a 13-6 lead with 9:01 left in the second quarter.

The 49ers would start their next drive at their 29-yard-line as the 49ers would methodically drive down to the Buffalo two-yard-line where they were faced with a 4th & goal situation when Walsh decided to go for the touchdown instead of attempting the field goal.

On the play, Montana would roll to his right and threw a pass toward the end zone intended for Elliott only to have Bills strong safety Steve Freeman knock the ball down to force a turnover on downs and give the ball back to Buffalo at their two-yard-line with 1:59 left before halftime.

The Bills would run the ball four straight times to run out the clock on the first half with Buffalo ahead 13-6 as they were 30 minutes away from a division title.

Buffalo would get the ball to start the second half as they would pick up one 1st down before punting the ball back to the 49ers, who would take over at their 43-yard-line as Cooper would run for six yards to begin the drive to bring up 2nd & 4 when Cooper would run 47 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Buffalo four-yard-line.

After a two-yard run by Elliott, Montana would find Eason Ramson for a two-yard touchdown that with the extra point tied the game at 13 with 11:20 left in the third quarter.

The Bills would start their next drive at their 30-yard-line as Ferguson would go deep for Lewis as the wide receiver would draw a pass interference penalty on 49ers cornerback Gerard Williams to give Buffalo a 1st down at the San Francisco 35-yard-line.

From there, the Bills would drive to the 49ers' eight-yard-line until Mike-Meyer would come on to kick a 25-yard field goal to give Buffalo a 16-13 lead with 5:33 left in the third quarter.

On their ensuing possession, the 49ers would move from their 25-yard-line to their 42-yard-line before they lined up to punt the ball back to the Bills when the snap went over punter Jim Miller's head as Miller would fall on the ball in the end zone until he was touched by defensive end Ken Johnson for a safety to extend Buffalo's lead to 18-13 with 1:38 to go in the third quarter.

Running back Roland Hooks would receive the free kick at his 28-yard-line and ran it back 30 yards until he was hit by the 49ers' Ricky Patton to knock the ball loose as cornerback Ray Rhodes would recover the ball to give San Francisco the ball at their 41-yard-line.

The 49ers would go three-and-out to punt the ball back to the Bills, who would take over at their 20-yard-line as two runs by Cribbs would go for 26 yards to put the Bills at their 46-yard-line when Ferguson would fumble a snap from center as defensive tackle Archie Reese would recover it to give San Francisco the ball at the Buffalo 45-yard-line early in the fourth quarter.

San Francisco would use its running game to drive down the field as they would run the ball on seven of their next eight plays as the 49ers drove down to the Bills' eight-yard-line until disaster struck when Cooper fumbled the football when he was hit by Buffalo linebacker Lucas Sanford as cornerback Mario Clark would make the recovery at the San Francisco five-yard-line with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter.

Bills running back Joe Cribbs would run for 128 yards on 18 carries.

The two teams would exchange punts until the 49ers got the ball at their 24-yard-line with 3:23 left in the game as the drive would begin with a four-yard loss by Cooper which was followed by a 12-yard pass from Montana to Elliott to set up 3rd & 2 as the two-minute warning hit.

Following the timeout, Elliott would run for four yards to give the 49ers a 1st down at their 36-yard-line as Montana would hit Dwight Clark for nine yards, then completing a three-yard pass to Cooper to put San Francisco at their 48-yard-line with a fresh set of downs.

Three plays later, the 49ers were forced with a 4th & 10 situation when Montana found Clark over the middle for 18 yards and a 1st down at the Bills' 34-yard-line with 28 seconds to go in the game.

Montana would complete an one-yard pass to Freddie Soloman before throwing an incomplete pass to set up 3rd & 9 at the 33-yard-line with nine seconds to go when Montana threw a Hail Mary pass to the left corner of the end zone that tight end Charlie Young got his hands around the ball but could not bring it down as Buffalo cornerback Charles Romes would knock the ball out of Young's hands to make the pass incomplete with two seconds to go.

That gave Montana another chance at a Hail Mary pass at the left corner of the end zone as time expired as the pass was batted around before it fell to the ground and incomplete to give the Bills the 18-13 win and the AFC East division title.

The "Bills Mafia" were so excited by the division title that nearly 8,000 fans braved the 13-degree night to greet their beloved Bills when they arrived at the Buffalo airport at 3:30 in the morning following the win over the 49ers.

Buffalo would get a first round bye as all division champions did in the 1980 NFL playoffs before traveling to San Diego to take on the Chargers in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.

The Bills led late in the game until Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Ron Smith with 2:06 left in the game to give San Diego a 20-14 win to end Buffalo's dream of making it to the Super Bowl.

The Bills would respond the following year by going 10-6 to earn a spot in the AFC Wild Card Game where they would defeat the New York Jets 31-27 after building up a 24-0 1st quarter lead to earn Buffalo its first playoff win since the 1965 AFL Championship.

Buffalo's 1981 season would end the following week in a 28-21 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals as the Bills would not return to the postseason until 1988 which began a six-year run of playoff appearances that included four straight AFC Championships from 1990 through 1993.