MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - All that stress that fans had to endure over the weekend, waiting and wondering whether the Buffalo Bills were going to make the postseason or would be packing their bags for the offseason sure didn’t dissipate once they took the field at Hard Rock Stadium Sunday night.

They may have already punched their ticket to the postseason when the Jaguars found a way to lose to the Titans earlier in the day, but with the big prize on the line – the AFC East division title and the No. 2 seed – the Bills drove their fans absolutely nuts for 60 minutes before somehow – despite a litany of missteps and mistakes – pulling out a tension-packed 21-14 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

For much of the night the Bills tried their very hardest to blow the game and all the spoils that went with it, but Deonte Harty’s electrifying 96-yard punt return one minute into the fourth quarter flipped the script for Buffalo, and they went on to do what they have so often done when the Miami Dolphins are standing on the other sideline – they beat them.

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“Four years in a row, man, incredible, amazing,” coach Sean McDermott said. “Just couldn't be more proud of a group, more resilient. It wasn't a good first half; we didn't play our style of football. I didn't coach well enough in the first half, and then second half, we came around, we started to get our feet under us a little bit.”

Now they will host the No. 7 seed Steelers in a wild-card game at Highmark Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and Pittsburgh may have to play the game without superstar edge rusher T.J. Watt, who suffered a knee injury in Baltimore.

The Steelers beating the Ravens Saturday night delayed the Bills clinching a playoff berth, but then the Jaguars losing to the Titans early Sunday at least enabled McDermott’s team the safety net of knowing they’d be playing next week.

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But the real prize in Week 18 was winning the division because that guarantees the Bills at least two home playoff games should they reach the divisional round and the Bills found a way as they closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak.

With Josh Allen playing giveaway, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble, the Bills made it overwhelmingly difficult on themselves, but what else is new in this 2023 season?

They also overcame, on the last possession of the first half, a dropped TD pass by James Cook followed by a play where Ty Johnson caught a pass over the middle and was stopped one yard shy of the goal line as the clock ran out.

At minimum, the Bills left 17 points on the field, perhaps 21, maybe even more. Honestly, it was hard to keep track. And then in the third quarter, the problems persisted when the Bills drove into Miami territory and Allen was sacked and lost a fumble, costing Buffalo at least three more points.

“The mood (at halftime) was we were beating ourselves and I was beating us, and that's what it came down to,” Allen admitted. “Again, the turnovers in our own side of the field, those are never good. Just gotta be smarter withthe ball.”

Despite all that misery, the defense kept the Bills within striking distance at 14-7, and that’s when Harty silenced the Dolphins portion of the sellout crowd with his massive punt return touchdown.

“It was a blur,” Harty said. “I just caught the ball, made one guy miss. Those guys were doing what they were supposed to do up front, I see the hole and hit it.

“This is all about being in the moment, being where your feet are at. I'm glad that I was able to bring a spark to the team. You never know when your number is going to be called, so having a moment like that, especially when you're fighting for, trying to get in the position that we were trying to get into, it was big.”

That lit a fire under the Bills and following a three and out stop by the defense, Allen put together his best drive of the night, an eight-play, 74-yard masterpiece highlighted by his 28-yard dime to Khalil Shakir to the 3, and then capped by his five-yard TD pass to Dawson Knox.

“On those final couple of drives I feel like we found a groove on the offensive side of the ball,” Allen said. “I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand the best it has all year, so that's a good thing.”

Finally, another defensive stop gave the Bills the ball with 6:14 remaining and Allen was able to drain more than four minutes. He converted a third-and-13 with a dazzling 15-yard scramble, and then snuck his way to a first down on fourth-and-1 as McDermott, clearly sensing the opportunity to put the game away and trusting his defense if they failed, let Allen do so.

However, a second Allen sneak failed and with 1:53 left, the Dolphins took over at their own 37, but Taylor Rapp made a diving interception at the Buffalo 22 to secure the thrilling, heart-pounding victory.

“Just to know where we were at (6-6 on close to being irrelevant in early December) to where we are now, this team is resilient,” safety Micah Hyde said. “This team is special. When our backs were against the wall, we had a lot of talks and a lot of meetings to try to get that spark going. Somehow, someway we found a way, and we’ve just been rolling since.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills defeat Dolphins to win division title, host AFC playoff game