The Buffalo Bills head into Week 3 with a perfect record, a home date against the winless Los Angeles Chargers at Highmark Stadium, and a fan base that’s feeling pretty good about where this team is going.
That confidence starts with the offense, of course. Josh Allen is operating at MVP level, and Buffalo has cleared 36 points in both of its first two games of the 2026 NFL season. When the attack is humming like that, it’s easy to see why Bills fans are riding high.
The defense, though, is still the part of the team that needs the most patience. Buffalo has flashed the kind of splash plays that can swing a game in an instant, especially from the front seven, but there are still real questions in the defensive backfield. New defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has brought in a system that is clearly still settling in, and the group looks like it’s learning on the fly.
Even so, the early returns have split Bills Mafia in a pretty clear way. In a poll earlier this week, 61% of fans said they’re optimistic about the defense through the first two weeks, while 39% said they’re still concerned and watching closely. That feels about right for a unit that has shown enough to inspire belief, but not quite enough to silence the doubts.
The bigger picture around the team, however, is overwhelmingly positive. In the latest confidence rating poll, 93% of Bills fans said they believe the team is headed in the right direction under new head coach Joe Brady and president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane. If the defense keeps progressing toward what many expect from it under Leonhard, Buffalo’s ceiling only gets higher.
The mood in Los Angeles is a lot less upbeat. Just 6% of Chargers fans said they’re confident about the team’s direction, a rough place to be this early in the season.
There is at least some context for that frustration. The Chargers are dealing with injuries, and the hope is that better health can help them put together a late-season push. For now, though, the gap in confidence between these two fan bases is impossible to miss.
In Other News...
Bills 3-0 Start Now Comes With A Josh Allen Concern
Buffalos perfect start has been built around Josh Allen doing what he always does, which is absorb hits, extend plays and keep the offense moving even when things get messy. So the sight of Allen taking a helmet to the knee in Week 3 was an immediate concern, even if he stayed in the game and the early read is that the issue is a contusion rather than something more severe.
The Bills are moving on to their next matchup with the New England Patriots, but Allens knee will be watched closely as the week unfolds. For a team sitting at 3-0, the larger picture is obvious: the record looks clean, but the health of the quarterback driving it is now part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Is One Score Away From A Bills Milestone
Buffalos fast start has been fueled by the same familiar engine, with the Bills opening the 2026 season 3-0 and piling up a league-leading 101 points through three weeks. Josh Allen has been right in the middle of it again, and his latest visit to the end zone against the Chargers carried more than just the usual weight of another productive afternoon.
Allens 1-yard rushing touchdown in Week 3 tied him with Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed for the most scrimmage touchdowns in franchise history at 87, a reminder of how much he has already added to the teams record book. He still finished the day with two interceptions, but the Bills keep moving forward with Allen now sitting one score away from standing alone atop one of the franchises most notable milestones. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Win Sparked Ugly Chargers Backlash Around Harbaughs Staff
The Chargers came out of their loss to the Bills carrying plenty of frustration, and not just because the defense forced five turnovers and still watched the offense manage only 10 points. Buffalo's latest win over Los Angeles only deepened the sense that this matchup has become a sore spot for a Chargers team that could not turn mistakes into enough production to stay in control.
Breiden Fehoko turned that frustration public, taking aim at the coaching staff's play-calling on social media, while Jim Harbaugh acknowledged the team's struggles and kept his focus on the collective nature of wins and losses. For Buffalo, the result was another convincing edge in a series that has gone the Bills' way three straight times, but for the Chargers the bigger issue is how quickly the criticism around Harbaugh's staff is starting to spill into the open. [Read more 🡒]