The 1978 Buffalo Bills season was the 19th season for the club and its ninth in the National Football League. The Bills were coming off a season in which they only won three games, making 1978 a slight improvement. Head coach Chuck Knox began his first season with the team, having coached the Los Angeles Rams for the previous five seasons. It was also Buffalo's first season after the departure of star running back O.J. Simpson, who had left for San Francisco in the offseason.