As the Super Bowl approaches, football fans are watching the thrilling playoff games, rooting for their teams, and having social media debates about all-things-football. As their favorite teams advance in the competition, supporters are filled with anticipation and excitement, while others deal with disappointment as their teams lose. Avid fans have even been known to take their frustration out on their players over social media.
On January 21, 2024, the Buffalo Bills played the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional round. After a perfect back-and-forth game between rival star quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, Allen led the Bills down the field and into scoring position just inside the two-minute warning. With the Chiefs beating the Bills 27-24, the Bills needed one field goal to tie the game, putting it into overtime. Tyler Bass, however, kicked a 44-yard field goal too wide to the right, losing the AFC Divisional round for the Buffalo Bills.
After the game, Bass supposedly received an overwhelming amount of online harassment and death threats for missing the potential game-tying field goal. The bombarding of threats and hate comments led the kicker to delete and deactivate all of his social media accounts, showing the unfortunate side of fame and social media.
However, this does not mean that the athlete won’t take accountability. When asked about the moment in an interview, Bass responded while criticizing the way he played.
“Ultimately, you can put it on me,” Bass said. “I got to do a better job of keeping my target. I got to do a better job of playing it a little bit more left to right. I’ve been playing here long enough to know you got to do that. It just didn’t work out. I feel terrible. I love this team and this one hurts bad.”
The Buffalo Bills fanbase, otherwise known as the “Bills Mafia,” are recognized for their intense devotion and loyalty to their team. That does, however, occasionally result in fans taking things too far and putting too much pressure on their teams.
All fans can do now is look forward to the Buffalo Bills upcoming season. The anticipation is high, with everyone looking forward to a more successful season ahead.