The Bills are 0-2 to start a season for just the second time since starting 0-8 in 2010.

The Bills travel to Minnesota next week to take on the 1-0-1 Vikings.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – The running joke last week in the minutes and hours following their horrendous season-opening loss in Baltimore is that the Bills are on the clock, meaning they can start figuring out who they’re going to take No. 1 overall with the first pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

It was a joke last week, it being the first week of the season and all.

But following the Bills’ 31-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at steamy New Era Field, it’s not so funny anymore. With road games at Minnesota and Green Bay coming up before September ends, the stark reality is that the Bills are well on their way to a winless month, and when you look at the schedule, there aren’t a whole lot of games thereafter that you can point to and say the Bills should win.

Sure, they’ll win a few, but come the end of December, chances are they won’t have many, and all that draft talk might get very real. The Bills had a player quit at halftime, coach Sean McDermott took the defensive play-calling responsibilities away from Leslie Frazier, and they’ve now been outscored 78-23. As former Yankees manager Joe Girardi would say, it’s not what you want.

Here are my thoughts on what took place Sunday with the season already in unraveling mode:

Josh Allen didn’t look overwhelmed

There is no doubt anymore — this season is all about the development of the rookie quarterback. The Bills are terrible, and as I said, they have a better chance of earning the No. 1 overall draft pick than they do of making the playoffs, or even of finishing .500. Either of those outcomes is laughable to consider at this point.

So the focus needs to be on preparing Allen for next year and beyond. He looked like a rookie Sunday. But he also looked like a quarterback who can learn, one who can make plays if he ever gets help from the woeful team he has around him, and one who can be a leader of men.

It meant nothing to the outcome, but I liked the last drive he put together that ended with his TD pass to Kelvin Benjamin. He was out there grinding despite the ugly tale being told on the scoreboard, and he finished with 245 yards passing, which is 31 fewer than Nathan Peterman has thrown for combined in his five NFL appearances. I believe better days are coming at the quarterback position.

The offensive play-calling needs to be better

LeSean McCoy called offensive coordinator Brian Daboll a genius the week before the season began. That may have been an exaggeration.

Look, it’s obvious Daboll is scheming with less than a full deck. Allen is a raw rookie who will need time to grow and mature, but he’s like a Ferrari with a Yugo engine. This offense is so lacking in talent that Allen is going to struggle every week to make them better because they can’t help him be better.

Once again, the alleged No. 1 receiver, Benjamin, was nowhere to be found until garbage time when he caught a three-yard TD pass against a Los Angeles team that was already boarding the team plane. I’m sure he’ll say it wasn’t that bad. Allen dropped back 38 times (plus a few scramble) and Benjamin was his target only three times. He caught two for a whopping 19 yards.

Charles Clay was again drab with two catches for 29 yards. Zay Jones caught a 57-yard bomb, making a nice adjustment to come back and catch the underthrown pass, but he had only one other reception for six yards. Jeremy Kerley was cut, so I can’t rag on him. It’s astonishing how lacking this unit is.

And of course, lest we forget the offensive line, which again left Allen hung out to dry as he was sacked five times for 36 yards and was on the run on several other plays. Daboll has to find a way to make it work, and the best way would be to set up game plans centered around short passing, early and often.

Allen faced third-and-five yards or more on 11 snaps in this game, and that’s just too much for a rookie to deal with. Much of the trouble came because the Bills weren’t winning on first or second down.

Leslie Frazier was essentially benched

McDermott was so irritated by what was taking place on defense as the Bills gave up four straight touchdown drives that he grabbed the play sheet from Frazier and called the plays in the second half. Was it coincidence that the Bills gave up only three points, four first downs and 65 yards after halftime?

“I just thought we needed a spark, and that’s my background,” McDermott said. “Coach Frazier does a really good job as well as the defensive staff.”

That’s code for, McDermott isn’t happy with his defense allowing 78 points and nine touchdowns on 10 red-zone trips by the opposition, so he took matters into his own micromanaging hands.

“I didn’t really change all that much, honestly,” McDermott said. “I thought the defense played with a lot of energy in the second half, and the guys, give the players credit, they battled.”

That was also linebacker Lorenzo Alexander’s read on the situation.

“Sean has been a defensive coordinator in his career, he’s the head coach and he felt the need to step in and that’s his prerogative to do it,” said Alexander. “Leslie is not a prideful guy, he’ll step aside and we’ll go back to work. I don’t think there will be any issue there with that, just understanding who Leslie is and what he’s all about, which is winning. I don’t think it was the play-calling; guys stood up and made plays and executed better.”

This bears watching this week, and the rest of the season.

Extra points

► Play of the game: There weren’t really any that stood out as difference makers, so let’s go with Gordon’s 20-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 less than 11 minutes into the game. The Bills totally blew their defensive call and Gordon ran untouched to the end zone, and right there you knew the Chargers were going to cruise the rest of the way.

► Player of the game: Rivers. He was surgical in the first half when he completed 15 of 16 passes for 178 yards and led the Chargers on four straight touchdown drives. It’s amazing to watch a true NFL quarterback at work, something we haven’t seen in Buffalo since Drew Bledsoe’s first half-season with the team in 2002. Rivers spread the ball around to six different receivers and threw three touchdown passes.

► Unsung hero: Safety Rafael Bush. For the second week in a row, he was forced to play nickel cornerback, a position he really isn’t equipped to handle. But he was the only option after Gaines got hurt and Davis quit. He ended up making six tackles, and the Bills were actually fairly decent on defense in the second half during the time Bush had to move inside.

► Stat pack: Rivers had a QB rating of 143.2, and with 156.0 being perfect, that was pretty impressive. … The Bills have now allowed 78 points in their first two games of the season. … Chargers RB Melvin Gordon had only 66 total yards from scrimmage, but he scored three of LA’s touchdowns, two on pass receptions. … At least the Bills didn’t break the rules as often this week; they had only six penalties for 31 yards. … LeSean McCoy has only 61 yards rushing in two games.

► Injuries: RB Taiwan Jones left the game with a bloodied head after he lost his helmet and was nailed by a Chargers player during a botched punt return. … CB Phillip Gaines left with an arm injury and did not return. … As expected, DE Shaw Lawson (hamstring) and CB Taron Johnson (shoulder) were inactive.

► What's next: The Bills head to Minnesota to take on a Vikings team that tied Green Bay on Sunday, 29-29. And they will have to face a QB in Kirk Cousins who threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns. As you’ll recall, the Bills had to face Rivers on Sunday after he’d thrown for 424 yards and 3 TDs the previous week. So, yeah, it’s not going to get any easier.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com