Entering the 2020 season, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane said the team's goal was to host a playoff game.

Mission accomplished.

The Bills captured their first AFC East title since 1995 with a 48-19 win Saturday over the Denver Broncos, locking up their second-straight playoff berth and a home playoff game next month.

The division title is the latest milestone in Buffalo's turnaround under Beane and coach Sean McDermott, who has led the team to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons. Both Beane and McDermott received multi-year contract extensions in August, with the former crediting the opportunity to lead the franchise back to relevance as one of the deciding factors in him taking the job.

"This community and this team had such a great tradition in the late '80s and early '90s, to where it fell to in the 2000s until Sean and I got here, I think that's what was exciting," Beane said. "This was an opportunity in a place that's been down for so long that had such a great tradition, and still has a great fanbase -- how exciting would it be to get this thing turned around and host playoff games here?

"That's what Sean and I want, we want to win the AFC East so that we can host games here. That's been the goal all along."

Buffalo captured its title behind another masterful performance from MVP candidate Josh Allen, who threw for 359 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns, two apiece on the ground and through the air.

His favorite target was receiver Stefon Diggs, who continued to set records in his first season with the Bills. One week after setting a new career-high in receiving yards, Diggs set another mark in receptions, and broke Eric Moulds' franchise record for catches in a single season. Diggs finished with 147 yards on 11 receptions before leaving with an injury.

Although fans have not been allowed at Bills Stadium all season as part of Erie County's COVID-19 protocols, Buffalo fans have been as supportive as ever throughout the team's best season in the past 25 years.

Fans flew a banner with a message of support over the stadium before the Bills hosted the Rams in Week 3 and at least one former player is excited for one of the league's more-tortured fanbases.

"It's like a college atmosphere," former Bills defensive end Cornelius Bennett said. "I didn't miss a beat when I went from the University of Alabama fanbase to the Buffalo Bills fanbase. It was tremendous -- and still is. I've been around a bit, and I don't compare it to anywhere else."

Bennett, who is a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist for 2021, said he recently met with fans and they were ecstatic at not only the Bills' chances at a division title, but also the fact that the defending division-champion Patriots were knocked out of the running with four games remaining.

With a playoff berth and a division title locked up, there are still a few records left to play for as the Bills prepare to play the Patriots in Week 16.

Allen is 359 yards away from Drew Bledsoe's single-season franchise record of 4,359 passing yards -- although he did become the second player in franchise history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards in a single season. He's also three touchdown passes away from Jim Kelly's single-season record of 33.

Cole Beasley, who caught eight passes for 112 yards Saturday, has already set career-highs in yards and receptions, but needs just 50 yards for his first 1,000-yard season of his career. The Bills haven't had two 1,000-yard receivers since Eric Moulds and Peerless Price did so in 2002.