HOUSTON - Given up for dead when they fell behind 20-3 early in the third quarter, the Buffalo Bills made a valiant comeback to tie the Houston Texans with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter, but all that work went for naught in the end.

Thanks to a completely botched final possession deep in their own territory which resulted in a punt, the Texans were able to walk off with a 23-20 victory as Houston’s Ka’imi Fairbairn drilled a 59-yard field goal as time expired, handing Buffalo a well-deserved but nonetheless galling defeat.

It’s Buffalo’s second straight loss and the memory of its 3-0 start is long gone, though the 3-2 Bills remain in first place in the AFC East because the Jets lost in London to Minnesota, falling to 2-3.

It was mind-numbing what happened at the end of this game. The Bills’ defense did a great job on Houston’s penultimate drive, but a great punt backed them up to their own 3 with 32 seconds left.

However, three straight Josh Allen incompletions led to a Buffalo punt, and the Texans needed just one play with seven seconds remaining to position Fairbairn for the kick. Buffalo’s inability to run out the clock there was incomprehensible, and it cost them a chance to get overtime.

Although the Bills did rally, their terrible start proved too much to overcome as they played poorly in all three phases in the first half, looking largely incompetent.

Their offense was unable to get anything going and Josh Allen resembled the same player he was in this same building back in January 2020 in his first playoff game, the day he got tagged with the “Sugar High Josh” nickname. He was 6 of 18 for a mere 56 yards at halftime and his decision-making was highly questionable, though that was due primarily to having nowhere to throw the ball as his receivers either could not get open, or dropped the ball.

On defense, the Bills got toasted on back-to-back possessions by C.J. Stroud, the second of which resulted in a one-play drive, a 67-yard touchdown pass to Nico Collins that made it 14-3.

And on special teams, the punt coverage unit got burned for a 36-yard return by long ago Bill Robert Woods which set up a buzzer beating field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn that pushed the deficit to 17-3 at the break.

In the second half, though, the game flipped dramatically after the Texans tacked on another Fairbairn field goal that made it 20-3.

The Bills needed only six plays to produce their first touchdown, a five-yard run by James Cook which was set up by a big 26-yard catch by Dalton Kincaid. And after a Houston three-and-out, the Bills struck again in dynamic fashion.

On a fourth-and-5 at the Texans 49, Allen hit Keon Coleman on a quick out and the rookie turned it into a touchdown down the left sideline and suddenly it was 20-17.

Buffalo’s defense then took over, forcing two huge turnovers in the fourth. The first, an interception by Terrel Bernard deep in Bills’ territory, took Houston points off the board. The second, a forced fumble by Dawuane Smoot recovered by Dorian Williams at the Texans 15, set up Tyler Bass’ tying 33-yard field goal.

But the Bills’ failure to score a touchdown there is what really cost them the game because the Texans needed only a field goal to win at the end.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills botch clock in walk-off field goal loss to Houston Texans