AP Photo Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) celebrates the team’s comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night in Orchard Park.

Between 11 p.m. and midnight on Sunday, magic happened in Orchard Park.

Highmark Stadium became the setting for a Hollywood ending, as the franchise’s hallowed grounds became exactly what Marv Levy said they were all those years ago. That was the place where everyone wanted to be. Right there, right then.

The Buffalo Bills did the unthinkable on Sunday night, as a 15-point deficit with under four minutes remaining somehow became a Buffalo victory. When the final seconds of regulation ticked off the clock and Matt Prater’s kick sailed through the uprights, the Bills gave their fans one of those memories that will last a lifetime.

It certainly did not look like it would end so positively for the Bills for the majority of the night. Derrick Henry proved once again that the Buffalo defense is utterly incapable of containing him; DeAndre Hopkins had a spectacular touchdown catch that brought back bad memories of the “Hail Murray” from his time in Arizona; and Lamar Jackson racked up several highlight reel plays to elude the rush throughout the night.

Early in the fourth quarter, after Jackson dodged the rush and broke away from the defense on 3rd-and-10 for a first down, then Henry darted down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown, the Ravens led 40-25 with under 12 minutes remaining.

Shortly afterward, some fans in the stands headed for the exits. Group chats were filled with messages of disappointment and frustration, and social media was drowning in negativity. Even one of the most positive Bills fan accounts on X, the Bills Mafia Babes account, posted, “We’ve waited 7 months to feel this pain again. It can only go up from here.”

Somehow, less than an hour later, the same account reposted its previous statement with three simple words: “It went up!”

But how?

According to DraftKings, prior to Sunday, a total of 2,315 teams had trailed by 15 points or more at any point in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter of a game since 2000. Of those 2,315 teams, only three won the game. All three of those improbable wins needed overtime. Sunday’s Bills victory did not.

In a post shared by the Buffalo Bills on X, according to Stats Perform, the Bills became the first team in NFL history to be down by 15+ points with under four minutes left and win the game in regulation.

For the Ravens, Sunday was an inconceivable loss. According to Fox Sports, teams that scored at least 40 points and had at least 235 rushing yards in a game, as Baltimore did on Sunday, were 277-0. The Ravens had a win probability of 99% late in the fourth quarter on Sunday.

It all started to change following a rare Baltimore mistake. Following an 80-yard touchdown drive by the Bills, capped off with a touchdown pass to Keon Coleman in what was arguably the best game of his young career, Baltimore had a chance to close the game out.

The Ravens had possession of the ball with less than four minutes remaining, ahead by eight points. On the first play of the drive, Lamar Jackson ran for a first down, draining the hourglass even more.

But then, the Bills got the break they needed.

On first down at the Baltimore 41-yard line, the virtually unstoppable Henry was met in the backfield by Ed Oliver. The ball came free and Bills captain Terrel Bernard pounced on the fumble to give Allen, his co-captain, a chance to prove why he was selected as the league’s Most Valuable Player ahead of Jackson a year ago. Henry only lost one fumble in the previous two seasons on more than 600 carries.

Even then, Allen needed to lead the Bills down to score. But in the blink of an eye, Buffalo was on the doorstep thanks to a 29-yard completion to third-string rookie tight end Jackson Hawes. The ball was juggled and caught at the 1-yard line for Hawes’ first career catch.

After two failed goal-line runs, Allen jumped and stretched the ball over the line for the touchdown to bring Buffalo to within two points. But with less than two minutes remaining, after a pass fell incomplete on the two-point conversion attempt, it seemed like Buffalo’s magic had run out. More fans started to leave the stadium and more viewers turned off their televisions.

Yet again, it was in Jackson’s hands with a chance to end the game. Baltimore needed just one first down to seal the victory. But when it mattered, the Bills defense got a stop and Jackson faltered in another big moment. Baltimore punted the ball back to Buffalo and Allen had a chance to win the game.

Back-to-back stellar plays from Allen in the final minute put the victory within reach – first, a spectacular throw to Joshua Palmer down the sideline to Allen’s left, followed by a pass over the middle to Coleman that Allen adjusted to after recognizing the Baltimore blitz. Allen then kneeled three straight times, burning Baltimore’s final two timeouts, then sending the clock spiraling down toward nothing but zeroes.

Prater came running onto the field in a hectic state, but it was nothing new to the 41-year-old veteran of more than 250 NFL games. The oldest player to score in Bills history by more than three years was the newest face in the locker room after joining the team just a few days prior. With Tyler Bass injured, Prater took a red eye flight to Buffalo to sign with the team’s practice squad on Thursday. Players admitted after the game to thinking Prater was joining the team as a coach, rather than as a player.

But he played, and he delivered. Thanks to Prater, finally, a kick at the end of a memorable game in front of all of America ended as a positive memory for the Bills and the Mafia that stuck with them, whether from the stands, from the comfort of their homes, or even in the parking lots as they kicked themselves for leaving early.

The win was a spectacular way to open up the season, especially considering it is the final year at the current Highmark Stadium. The building previously known as Rich Stadium, then later known as “The Ralph”, played home to legends of years past, from Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas in attendance on Sunday, to Allen playing quarterback as if he were the second coming of Frank Reich in January of 1993. Sunday was a comeback win that this generation of fans can recall for years.

Sunday night, as the tens of thousands of fans who remained in the stands belted out the lyrics to “Mr. Brightside” to celebrate one of the most improbable comebacks in sports history, it didn’t seem like anyone was missing.

To those who were, Allen said it perfectly after the game. “Have some faith next time.”

After that ending, how could you not Billieve?