The Kansas City Chiefs are on the verge of becoming the latest dynasty to dominate the AFC.
As we watched with the New England Patriots' 20 years of supremacy, contenders are likely to come and go. One current candidate to continually butt heads with Patrick Mahomes & Co. is the Buffalo Bills, who fell to the reigning champs in the AFC Championship Game.
Bills coach Sean McDermott knows his team still has strides to make to compete with K.C.
"There is still a gap in terms of where we are and where they are. It's not just one answer that solves that problem," McDermott said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. "We all have to, starting with me, we all have to continue asking ourselves the hard questions of the what-ifs and the whys and the hows. We as a staff have to get better and improve, we have to improve our roster, we have to improve our operation and what we do."
McDermott specifically noted the Chiefs' speed as something the Bills will have to match in the coming years.
"I think the speed element showed up on the field the other night," he said. "I don't think it takes a coach to realize that. Speed and size, that's what this game is -- speed, size and physicality."
It's rare for a coach to get so specific when publicly analyzing his club's downfall. McDermott's willingness to admit his defense needs more speed to contend with the Tyreek Hills and Mecole Hardmans, etc., on the Chiefs roster underscores how evident he believes the gap is currently.
On the plus side for Buffalo, the Bills are still on the front-nine of their Super Bowl window.
"They're in Year 8, and we're in Year 4," McDermott said. "But that's a little bit of a feel for how long they've been building their program and where we are. There's a lot that we've improved on in terms of what's gotten us to where we are."
Whether that improvement can reach the level of besting Mahomes and the Chiefs remains to be seen.