The Buffalo Bills overcame a 35–3 deficit to defeat the visiting Houston Oilers 41–38 in overtime and set the then-record for largest comeback in NFL history.

The main keys to their success were their four future Hall of Fame players on offense: Quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, and receivers Andre Reed and James Lofton.

In addition to losing Kelly, injuries also robbed Buffalo of one of their best defensive players for the upcoming wildcard game: linebacker Cornelius Bennett.

Reich subsequently led the Bills to the Oilers 18-yard line where Steve Christie made a 36-yard field goal, to cut the score to 7–3.

Moon completed the drive with his second touchdown pass to Jeffires, this one a 27-yarder, and the Oilers went into their locker room with a 28–3 halftime lead.

Nose Tackle Jeff Wright recalled "With every word that came out of Walt's mouth, he reached a new temperature level, until he finally just exploded.

The Bills' misfortunes were compounded with the loss of Thurman Thomas, who had to leave the game due to a hip injury on the drive, forcing Buffalo to attempt a comeback with a second-string backfield of Reich and Davis.

A Houston radio announcer was immortalized on NFL Films with the statement "The lights are on here at Rich Stadium, they've been on since this morning, you could pretty much turn them out on the Bills right now.

As a result, it became an unintentional squib kick that the Bills line backer Mark Maddox recovered with great field position at midfield.

Buffalo then drove 50 yards in 10 plays, including a pass to Pete Metzelaars that went right through the hands of linebacker Eddie Robinson, and scored with a 1-yard touchdown run by Davis, cutting the deficit to 35–10 when the extra point was added.

Steve Christie, Buffalo's kicker, recovered his own kickoff; Levy said that the play was an error, and not a planned onside kick.

[8] Bills scored on the fourth play of their ensuing drive with Reich's 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Don Beebe.

Houston was then forced to punt for the first time in the game on their next drive, and Greg Montgomery's 25-yard kick gave Buffalo the ball at their own 41-yard line.

Moon's run and shoot offense began to move the ball effectively again, aided by a roughing the passer penalty on Bruce Smith that negated linebacker Carlton Bailey's interception.

Al Del Greco attempted a field goal to increase the Oilers' lead, but Montgomery fumbled the snap.

With Houston's defense dropping back and expecting a pass, Reich handed the ball off to Davis, who stormed through the line and took off for a 35-yard gain.

But Moon led Houston downfield on a 63-yard drive to score the tying 26-yard field goal from Del Greco to send the game into overtime.

We didn't.Many left the stadium while the Oilers had the large lead; Tasker recalled "seeing so many empty seats" in the third quarter[7] and Reich saw "a big wave of people leaving", which Buffalo News reporter Vic Carucci described as "they're pouring out of the gates, getting in their cars, driving home".

Because the game was not sold out, NFL blackout rules of the time prohibited television broadcast in the Buffalo area;[8] fans returned when they heard on the radio of the Bills' comeback.

And now they had this, and this reminded them of how special this football team really is.The game was Christie's first in the postseason; after kicking the winning field goal he asked "Wow!

With Kelly back as starter, the Bills won 29–10, advancing to Super Bowl XXVII, where they were beaten by the Dallas Cowboys 52–17.

[7] Melanie Hauser of the Houston Post recalled Dishman "fighting back the tears and refusing to cry", and how "you felt the shock.

[8] In 2020, Hauser called the loss "the worst day in Houston sports history";[14] a radio station held a mock funeral for the team after the game.

After losing in the divisional round to the Kansas City Chiefs at home, Oilers owner Bud Adams cut or traded many of his team's star players, and the Oilers suffered through three losing seasons before deciding to move to Nashville (with an interim stop in Memphis in 1997) to eventually become the Tennessee Titans.

[17] The teams next met in the playoffs at Adelphia Coliseum in the 1999–2000 Wild Card round after the Oilers had moved to Nashville and become the Tennessee Titans.

Christie made another clutch field goal from 41 yards with 16 seconds left following a Rob Johnson drive that gave the Bills a 16–15 lead.

On Christie's ensuing kickoff, fullback Lorenzo Neal fielded the kick and handed it off to tight end Frank Wycheck.

Wycheck then threw a cross-field pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, who went the remaining 75 yards for a touchdown dubbed the Music City Miracle, reaching the end zone with just 3 seconds left.

Following a replay review, referee Phil Luckett upheld the ruling on the field that Wycheck's pass was a lateral and not an illegal forward pass, and the Titans won 22-16 en route to a place in Super Bowl XXXIV after Del Greco's extra point and after the ensuing Bills kickoff return did not score.

Reich was fired as head coach of the Colts on November 7, 2022, and was replaced with former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday.