The Bills fell to 0-2 on the season and lost for just the third time in nine home games under Sean McDermott.

The Bills have now allowed 78 points in their first two games.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – There was no way the Bills could play as poorly as they did in last week’s season opener at Baltimore.

That seemed like a logical take given how horrific that performance was, and that turned out to be true, though Sunday’s 31-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers really wasn’t all that much more competitive.

The Chargers rolled out to a 28-6 halftime lead, and while the Bills made some noise in the second half, the hole was far too deep to emerge from and they fell to 0-2 on the young season, with brutally difficult road games at Minnesota and Green Bay on the horizon the next two weeks.

Rookie quarterback Josh Allen was under fire throughout his NFL starting debut, a victim of sub-standard play by the offensive line and some conservative play-calling by coordinator Brian Daboll that created far too many third-and-long situations.

For most of the way the No. 7 overall draft pick did not look overwhelmed by the situation, but he made some glaring rookie mistakes in the second half and the Bills couldn’t overcome those because they simply don’t have enough talent around Allen to produce any offensive consistency.

He finished 18 of 33 for 245 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

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Just like in Baltimore, the offensive line was often blown backwards on both run and pass plays, and Buffalo’s alleged playmakers were pretty much invisible.

Buffalo forced a three-and-out on the Chargers first offensive series of the game, but then got scorched for touchdowns on Los Angeles’ next four possessions as Philip Rivers toyed with the Bills’ porous defense.

The Bills looked every bit as clueless in the first half as they did against the Ravens, unable to generate any pass rush or cover the Chargers arsenal of weapons as Rivers completed 15 of 16 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns before the intermission.

The first score came on a quick three-play, 38-yard drive following a Buffalo three-and-out with Rivers hitting Mike Williams for the score in the back of the end zone.

After the Bills second straight three-and-out, Rivers converted a third-and-12 with a 17-yard pass to Williams, and on the next play Melvin Gordon rumbled untouched 20 yards for a touchdown around the left end to make it 14-0 just 10:42 into the game.

The Bills finally got moving on offense as they made four first downs during a 51-yard drive that ended with a 43-yard Stephen Hauschka field goal, but it took less than three minutes for Los Angeles to answer. Rivers moved the Chargers 75 yards in five plays and threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Gordon, who made an excellent catch despite tight coverage by Bills linebacker Matt Milano.

Another three and out for the Bills offense turned into a 28-3 deficit as the Chargers scored their fourth straight TD, this one on a two-yard pass from Rivers to Gordon at the end of an 81-yard drive.

Allen drove the Bills to a Hauschka field goal before the half ended thanks to a 57-yard pass to Zay Jones on which Jones made a nice adjustment to come back for the underthrown ball.

Things got semi-interesting early in the third quarter when the Bills ended six quarters of futility and finally scored a touchdown. LeSean McCoy, who would later leave the game with a rib injury, broke a 27-yard run to get it going, and Allen found Patrick DiMarco for a 24-yard pass on a well-executed call. That set up Chris Ivory for a one-yard plunge to cut the deficit to 28-13.

Thereafter, both offenses went into hibernation. The Bills had four chances where a touchdown would have cut it to a one-possession game, but two ended in punts, and two ended in terribly thrown interceptions by Allen, a pair of passes that made him look like a rookie.

The second of those, by linebacker Kyzir White, came at the Buffalo 16, and created a mass exodus from the stadium. It also set up a clinching field goal by Caleb Sturgis.

The Bills did get a late touchdown as Kelvin Benjamin caught a three-yard pass from Allen with 38 seconds remaining.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com