I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so bad after a Bills win than I did on Sunday – if you watched you probably felt the same way. After yelling at the TV for most of the afternoon I was downright miserable on the final drive. I’ve seen it before and so have you – one last chance blown, a crushing defeat at the hands of a team you were supposed to crush. The setup was perfect – last chance after several squandered opportunities, complete with dropped passes, penalties and some impossible conversions.

I don’t know if it was because my blood pressure far exceeded my medication, my overall disgust at the performance I had been watching for the previous 3 hours or the thought that even a win wasn’t really going to make everything alright, but when Sammy Watkins stepped up and caught the winning touchdown with one tick left on the clock I yelled in excitement but never cracked a smile. My wife, sitting as far away from me on the next couch as possible, couldn’t believe I wasn’t happy – she looked at my demeanor and the grimace on my face and wondered why in the world I could still be so unhappy as the Bills celebrated on the field.

I’m not the only grump after the victory over Minnesota – if you heard Coach Doug Marrone after the game you understood that he wasn’t a happy man, either. The Bills were widely expected to control a game in front of a sold out home crowd that featured a rookie quarterback’s first game on the road, a running game missing its Pro Bowl running back and a pass offense that ranked 30th in the league. On paper it looked like a fairly ideal matchup for the Bills and a good cure for the hangover caused the week before by New England.

With few exceptions, the Bills looked far too much like the teams we’ve seen over the past 15 years for my liking. Poor play from the offensive line – check. Quarterback with limited mobility and almost no escapability – check. Penalties (especially dumb penalties) – check. Turnovers – check. Defensive backs not being in the same ZIP code at the receiver, a no-name running back having a breakout game against the Bills, the defense giving up big plays on third and long – check, check and check.

The Bills offense was positively anemic against Minnesota. The Vikings ranked 20th in the league against the run, so in theory it should have been a good day for both Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller. Jackson had runs of 8 yards, 4 yards and 0 yards before being felled with a groin injury at the end of the first quarter – he also caught 3 passes for 16 yards. Spiller caught a pass for 3 yards in the first quarter and ran the ball once for a big 53 yard gainer before he was carted off with a broken collarbone before halftime.

Factoring out the big play from Spiller and the Bills ran 7 times for 32 yards in the first half, not exactly the type of success you would expect from the matchup. Instead, Kyle Orton threw the ball 23 times for 16 completions and 124 yards, but he threw an interception and lost a fumble. It was like watching Kevin Gilbride call the Drew Bledsoe offense in 2002-2003 – throw the ball and keep throwing, running game and turnovers be damned. In his defense, Bledsoe had a much better pedigree than Orton so one might see where you might want to pass three times more than run.

The offense had the ball 8 times in the first half and reached the red zone only once (converted for a field goal). They did manage a touchdown immediately following a Leodis McKelvin interception, but for the most part putting together a scoring drive was an exercise in futility.

Much of the blame for the poor offensive showing can be placed on the offensive line – they were indeed offensive. Buffalo has two guards in Erik Pears and Cyril Richardson that really aren’t NFL starting quality at this point. Guard play has been bad this season, but on Sunday it was downright horrendous – no holes for the running game and problems in pass protection, especially in picking up stunts. Like a virus, the problem looks like it is infecting previously solid player like Eric Wood and Cordy Glenn – neither of those players has looked as solid as they were last year. Seantrell Henderson isn’t going to the Pro Bowl, but can you really complain about his play when you realize he is a rookie 7th rounder? Regardless, this unit is a liability at this point – Buffalo does not have the talent at other places to overcome poor play on the line, and this is perhaps the biggest reason the offense struggled so mightily on Sunday.

And then there were the turnovers. Coming off a week where the Bills were -3 in the turnover ratio to New England and giving up 13 points on turnovers, the Bills were -2 this week against the Vikings. McKelvin had two interceptions, but the Bills turned the ball over 4 times with 3 fumbles and an interception.

Let’s not let the defense off the hook for their performance, either. For only the first time this year the Bills allowed a run of more than 20 yards – they gave up a 29 yard run to Jerick McKinnon, and allowed Jerome Felton to scamper for 21 yards. In all the team allowed it's first 100 yard rusher of the season as McKinnon finished with 103 yards on 19 carries. McKinnon’s average was the same as that of the entire team – 5.4 yards per carry, well above what the Bills league-leading rush defense had been allowing.

Perhaps most maddening about the defense was its inability to make a play on third down late in the game. In the fourth quarter alone the Bills gave up third down conversions of 18 yards, 10 yards and 9 yards – it was like watching the old Bills – solid defense for two plays given back by letting up the big play on third down.

If I had told you before the game that the Bills would turn the ball over four times, give up 6 sacks, have trouble running and stopping the run and would lose both starting running backs in the first half you’d have to assume the Bills would get pounded. Had it been almost anyone other than Minnesota and you probably would be right, but in a game where each team tried to reach new lows of futility the Vikings out-futilitied the Bills. It takes skill to lose a game when that much ill befalls your opponent, but that’s exactly what Minnesota did. For each scoreless drive the Bills put together, the Vikings were right there to match. Each time the Bills gave up a much needed defensive stop the Vikings answered back with their own inability to get the defense off the field.

I was very disappointed last week when it became clear to me that the Bills are not yet up to the challenge of winning winnable games under the best of circumstances against good teams. This week I’m terrified that the Bills are going to start losing games most have circled as wins. The Bills should have controlled the game against Minnesota and instead they barely escaped with the win with a big assist to the Vikings themselves. The Jets are 1-6 this season having beat only Oakland. They have a quarterback who is frequently compared to E.J. Manuel. They have a patchwork of defensive backs, and their offensive line has given up 18 sacks so far this year. You’d think Buffalo should be handle the Jets but I’m certainly not putting any money on it.

The Jets always seem to give the Bills fits, and the game will be in the hostile confines of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The team almost beat New England in New England and will debut their new offensive weapon, receiver Percy Harvin. If Buffalo is to stand any chance of showing that they belong in the playoffs they’ll have to win on Sunday – a loss to the Jets will show they can’t be trusted to win the games they are supposed to win as they scrap for a postseason spot. Make no doubt about it – Sunday’s game at the Meadowlands is huge – a turning point for the season.

Fortunately all is not as gloomy as I might imagine. The Bills have a capable pair of backup running backs in Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown. Sammy Watkins is showing his amazing talent on the field and it is winning games for the Bills. For all his faults and lack of pocket awareness, Orton has now lead the team to two victories – he’s not finding a way to blow it like when Ryan Fitzpatrick was leading the team (I like the Amish Rifle, but how many opportunities did he fail to capitalize upon as a Bill by making a late game interception or a bad throw that failed to keep the chains moving?).

And so we look forward to what has become a huge test for the Bills. Win this and the other games the Bills should win and the Bills could see the postseason, especially if they can win a game you think they’ll probably lose. Lose against the Jets and the team could freefall back to its normal near the bottom of the division spot. The Bills are going to have to do a lot of work this week to get things right – play smart, penalty-free football. Stop the run. Get to Geno Smith and fluster him. Protect Orton and open up some running lanes so the offense isn’t completely hamstrung when it needs to move the ball. Play with intensity – this is a do or die game for the team. Come Sunday afternoon I hope I can actually celebrate a Bills win with a big smile on my face.