The 2011 Buffalo Bills season was the team's 42nd season in the National Football League and its 52nd overall. The Bills improved on their 4–12 record from the 2010 season, winning six games; however, the team also missed the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season; the team had not made the playoffs since 1999, the longest standing playoff drought in the NFL at the time after the Detroit Lions made the playoffs for the first time since 1999 during this season. On November 13, head coach Chan Gailey made his first return to Dallas since getting fired from the organization 12 years earlier. Gailey served as the Cowboys head coach from 1998-1999, and is the franchise's only coach to have never missed the playoffs. Gailey is also sometimes referred to by fans as the "forgotten coach" of D