Buffalo Reaches End of Line : Pro football: Fumble-prone Bills are overwhelmed by New England Patriots, 41-17, and are certain to miss the playoffs.

The rain had turned to snow when Andre Reed turned his face to his hands.

He was sitting on a wet stadium floor, alone, five yards from a touchdown, the football resting 26 yards in the other direction.

The crowd groaned. Teammates dropped to their knees. The snow poured across the Buffalo Bills like salt onto a wound.

An era had ended.

For the first time in five years, the Bills will not be going to a Super Bowl, their playoff hopes having being dashed Sunday with a 41-17 loss to the upstart New England Patriots.

After trying sports fans’ patience with four consecutive losses in this nation’s biggest sporting event, America’s villains finally collapsed under the strain of age, injury and expectation.

Not to mention their once-trademark ability to bob and weave. They squandered their sixth lead of the season Sunday, a 14-point advantage that was crushed under 38 consecutive Patriot points.

Reed’s third-quarter fumble on the five-yard line--his second lost fumble in eight minutes--ended a five-year celebration.

“I can remember a lot of parties in here,” said Bill defensive end Phil Hansen, looking around a near-deserted locker room shortly after the game. “Look at it now. Everybody is gone.”

Even their tiny Christmas tree had gone ragged, with an ornament and pine needles on the floor and the angel half-cocked on top.

After reveling in slogans such as “The Bills Are Back, Deal With It, America,” it is the Bills who now are forced to cope.

“I don’t think any of us could imagine anything like this happening to us,” said fullback Nate Turner, who scored the Bills’ first touchdown. “I don’t think any of us ever thought it would end like this.”

It essentially ended with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter, shortly after the Patriots, trailing, 17-3, at one point in the first half, had taken a 31-17 lead after fumbles by Carwell Gardner and Reed.

Ricky Reynolds had returned Gardner’s fumble 25 yards for a touchdown one minute into the second half to give the Patriots a 24-17 lead.

Drew Bledsoe, in his finest game as a pro, according to Patriot Coach Bill Parcells, had thrown a six-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Brisby after Reed’s fumble eight minutes into the second half to put the Patriots up by 14.

But backup quarterback Frank Reich then led the Bills back down the field. He found Reed with a 28-yard pass that the veteran wide receiver carried to the Patriot five.

There, Reed was smacked by cornerback Maurice Hurst. He fumbled. Maurice Guyton picked it up.

“We have to learn to deal with this now,” said Bill safety Henry Jones.

The Bills should not feel bad in that they were beaten by one of football’s hottest teams--the Patriots have won six consecutive games and can clinch their first playoff berth in eight years with a victory at Chicago in the season finale next week.

The Bills were also honored in that Parcells ordered his starters to remain on the field, and play hard, until the very end.

“They are like Dracula,” Parcells said of the Bills. “You’ve got to put a stake in their heart and then you still wonder if it’s in there.”

But in every other way, in falling to 7-8 while missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years, the Bills were embarrassed.

They lost three fumbles and two interceptions, while forcing none. They were barraged with boos from a crowd of 56,784 that looked small in 80,091-seat Rich Stadium.

It was so ugly, even a visiting Santa Claus required a security escort.

“There is a feeling of sadness that we are not the team we have been,” said Bill Coach Marv Levy. “Reality tells you that.”

This spring, when club officials look back to how this history-making group finally was stopped, they will see quarterback Jim Kelly standing on the sideline with a knee sprain.

And Thurman Thomas attempting to run with a variety of injuries that probably will cut short his career. And linebackers Cornelius Bennett and Darryl Talley running in vain after bigger and stronger opponents.

They will see a team that was ultimately figured out by everyone else, and seemingly powerless to adjust.

“You could say that everybody caught up with us,” Hansen said.

Added Turner about Sunday’s game: “It was simple. They made some changes. We didn’t.”

Bruce Smith, the star defensive end who is one veteran certain to be here next year, tried to find a bright spot.

“Maybe this could be the best thing that could happen to us,” Smith said. “Maybe in the offseason, this will make us put a new chemistry together.”

For now, they have no choice but to follow the advice on a banner that was stretched by cocky Boston visitors behind the south end zone Sunday.

“Deal With It, Buffalo.”