There are certain things in sports that are utterly predictable:

--That Derek Jeter will get a clutch hit when the Yankees really need it most.  By the same token, that Alex Rodriguez will strike out in the same situation.

--That you can go to pretty much any soccer game in the world and not expect to see more than three combined goals in the game.

--That Phil Jackson coaches the Lakers every few years, and...

--that you can watch or listen to pretty much any football game and always hear the announcers say the phrase "took it to the house".

However, I am beginning to think that the most solid prediction of all in the world of sports is that THE BUFFALO BILLS WILL SOMEHOW FIND A WAY TO LOSE. 

I'm not sure what the cause of this is.  Is it coaching?  Is it ownership and management?  Is it the players that get drafted, signed or otherwise put on a Bills jersey?  Is there some kind of curse that comes over players once they cross the border into western New York that turns them into nervous, sniveling, shivering,  scaredy-cats in clutch situations?  Whatever it is, it is real.  It is palpable.  As any long suffering Bills fan can attest, it is most definitely NOT a fluke, and it has been around for most of the history of the franchise, aside from what obviously was a six year dream from 1988-1994 or so.

Maybe it's just the Patriots.  The first meeting, the Bills had a 21-7 lead and were rolling along, only to be outscored 45-7 from that point on in a blowout loss.  Then yesterday, the Bills went into Foxboro where they haven't won since Tom Brady started his career there.  The Bills hung around, hung around and hung around, and then found themselves 15 yards away from a score and game winning extra point from doing the unthinkable--beating the Patriots in their own domain, ending the streak and even getting back into the heart of the AFC East race.

The Bills were down by six points, and had driven the ball to the New England 15 with about 40 seconds left.  Buffalo had no timeouts by this point, but with 40 seconds, it shouldn't matter.  Plenty of time to pass or run and get back to the line of scrimmage for at least four plays.  For most good teams, fans would like the position they were in.  For Bills fans, it was simply a sense of impending doom.

As the Bills strode to the line with a 1st and ten on the Pats 15, I said to my wife, "How do you think they will blow this this time?  Will it be an interception?"

She said, "maybe they will complete a pass and get tackled in play at the 1 yard line as time runs out."

Under heavy rush, Ryan Fitzpatrick nearly gets sacked on 1st down, and throws an incomplete pass.  Down to 33 seconds left.

At that point, I said, "what about a sack?  Fitzy gets sacked before he can get a pass off and the team can't get back to the line quick enough and time runs out?" 

My wife replies, "Could be a completion and then the receiver fumbles before he gets into the end zone."

On 2nd down, Fitzpatrick drops back to pass....and fires a laser....right into the breadbasket of Patriots corner Devin McCourty.  Game over.  Bills lose again 37-31.

I'm not making that up.  That was virtually the conversation and timeline word for word that my wife and I had watching the end of that game.  The thing that makes if funny to me is that if WE were having that coversation, I know there had to be perhaps THOUSANDS of other couples and groups having the exact same conversation, along with thousands more fans watching the game alone who were thinking the same thing (including some that may have been watching alone AND having the same conversation with themselves, in their padded walled rooms).

Not ONCE was there an inkling that Fitzpatrick would throw a game winning touchdown pass or make an amazing scramble into the end zone in that situation.  NOT ONE!  If the Bills and Fitzpatrick had somehow pulled off that amazing, improbable, come from behind miracle victory, no one would have been more shocked than I.  Well, maybe not.  I'm guessing most Bills fans would have been just as shocked.  This is the current problem in Buffalo.

This losing mindset, built over a 12 year span of not making the playoffs, is so pervasive, it transcends all things Bills.  From the fans, to the coaches and the players, it is tough to change.  I'm not sure what the solution is either.

Perhaps a game like this, if somehow the Bills had won, would have been the start of it.  Maybe playing a consistent stretch of three or four games that the Bills win would do it.  The fans at the Ralph are still as rabid as any fans anywhere, which is a testament to their patience, or stupidity, but the bottom line is, something needs to change. 

My personal guess is that things will not change until the Bills develop a young true franchise quarterback to build the future around.  The current problem is that the Bills braintrust (and I use that term loosely) THOUGHT they had that in Fitzpatrick.  Most regular fans knew better, and because of that decision, this team has spun their wheels for three years and left coach Chan Gailey on unstable job footing.  At least Buddy Nix was quoted last week as saying he realized that the team needs a franchise QB.  It's about time.

Fans can't possibly take too many more losses like today.