ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When the Buffalo Bills entered the bye week at 6-6, the thought of winning the division was secondary to that of simply finding to make the playoffs.
After a four-game win streak, though, the Bills now have a chance to a win fourth straight AFC East title.
That's what's on the line this weekend in Miami, when the Bills and Dolphins meet on Sunday night football for a winner-take-all game in the division.
"They're hungry, there's no doubt about that," Bills quarterback Josh Allen said of a Miami team coming off a 56-19 loss to Baltimore. "Big game, at home for them. Their crowd is going to be rocking. We're stepping into a very dangerous and hostile situation in terms of the AFC East on the line, so we've got to give everything we've got.
For the Bills, the stakes are nothing new. The team has spoken about being in must win mode since early December, when it traveled to Kansas City to start the final five game stretch of the regular season.
The win against the Chiefs marked the first of the team's current four-game win streak, the longest of the season, and was the first of three games during this stretch in which the Bills have won by one possession.
"We just continue to learn to find ways to win. It's not always perfect, and I think that "stick-to-it-ness" of the team is now starting to come to the surface, and I think that's important," Bills coach Sean McDermott said.
"When you can go in there and not have your fastball and hang in there. I mean, the last two games, we've been behind early in the game, and they've been able collectively to take a breath and find their way through it, and I think that's important."
Asked about the team's ability to stick to it this season, defensive back Taron Johnson used another term that was popular after Sunday's win against the Patriots: resiliency.
"It shows how resilient we are," Johnson said. "I feel like we do a good job of just taking it one week at a time. That's huge for us and we don't look to far and now we're in this position because of that mentality."
Keeping a consistent approach wasn't always easy, especially when the team was 6-6 after an overtime loss in Philadelphia, but it's something that as McDermott said, has started to "come to the surface."
"It's always a challenge, but I feel like that's just the NFL," Johnson said. "Every year, there's going to be different challenges and this year we've had our challenges, but I feel like we've overcame them and just want to continue to do that."
The next challenge to overcome for Buffalo: Go to Miami and win a fifth straight game, and capture yet another division crown.