AP Photo Buffalo Bills free safety Jordan Poyer reacts after recovering a fumble by the Tennessee Titans during the second half of Sunday's game in Orchard Park. The Bills' defense forced three turnovers on Sunday.

ORCHARD PARK — Sunday at New Era Field was about as ugly as a win can be, but in the standings, it might as well have been a portrait of Mona Lisa.

The Bills found a way to win on Sunday, and that’s all that matters in the National Football League.

This one was one that Rex Ryan would’ve been proud of. The defense carried the Bills’ inept offense to victory, 13-12, over Tennessee, while not allowing the Titans in the endzone all game. The Bills forced three turnovers on defense, and thanks to a game-winner from Stephen Hauschka from 46 yards out, Buffalo sent the New Era Field crowd home happy for the first time this season.

But honestly, it wasn’t all that pretty until the clock hit zero.

Josh Allen mustered only 82 yards through the air in the game, with an interception. The offense was a mess — at least minus one impressive touchdown run by Allen on the Bills’ first drive. Allen deserves as close to zero credit for the win as a quarterback can earn in a victory — but don’t expect him to mind one bit.

“I care about letters. I care about W’s. I don’t care how ugly the stats look. If we’re out on top, that’s all that I care about,” said Allen after the game.

LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory were as close as you could get on Sunday to any resemblance of an offensive threat. The duo combined for 38 carries and 128 rushing yards, which equals out to less than 3.4 yards per carry. That’s not good — but it was good enough. The Bills only had one turnover and just one sack allowed, which mitigates the ineptitude through the air. Again, not good — but good enough.

If you’re looking for positives to take from Sunday other than the tally in the win column, you won’t find any offensively. The Bills’ leading receiver was McCoy with 23 yards. The leader in receptions was Zay Jones with three catches for 20 yards. Allen finished with well under 100 yards passing on the day.

The positive is that Tennessee — a team who came into Sunday at 3-1 with a win over the defending champion Eagles last week — didn’t do any better than Buffalo did.

Tennessee’s leading rusher, Derrick Henry, only had 56 yards rushing. Their leading receiver, Corey Davis, only had four catches for 49 yards. Marcus Mariota didn’t look any better than Allen did, with only 129 yards and an interception of his own. All of that (minus a dropped touchdown pass by Nick Williams) was thanks to the Buffalo defense.

In some ways, the Bills were lucky to win on Sunday. Tennessee came out flat and the Bills capitalized just enough to win. Many people say you create your own luck, and that’s what the defense did for the Bills on Sunday.

Just don’t expect that luck to continue.

The Bills still need to be better — a lot better — if they want any hope of replicating the sort of success the team had last season. Still, a win is a win, and that’s what the Bills — at least one unit of the team — earned on Sunday.

Twitter: @bradencarmen