An absolutely critical game in Week 11?

That’s exactly where the reeling Bills find themselves heading into Thursday night’s meeting with the equally desperate Saints at the Superdome.

Buffalo (6-4) is a loss away from falling out of the AFC’s seven playoff qualifiers while New Orleans (5-5) is trying to remain in the NFC postseason chase with a Thanksgiving evening victory (8:20, NBC-TV, 95.7 FM, 100.1 FM, 550 AM).

The prevailing question among Buffalo’s faithful is “What’s wrong with the Bills?”

It’s apt.

After being tabbed by oddsmakers, in preseason, the conference favorite for the Super Bowl ahead of defending AFC champion Kansas City, the Bills have veered into mediocrity.

Following a 4-1 start, including an impressive 38-20 win on the Chiefs’ home turf, Buffalo is 2-3 with two of those losses unexpected. The 9-6 defeat at Jacksonville, 2-8 and tied for last in the AFC, could be a season-killing loss, and last Sunday’s 41-15 pasting by the Colts at Highmark Stadium was surprising in its one sidedness.

The third loss in this streak was a heart-breaking 34-31 decision at Tennessee (8-3) which gave long-term leverage to the Titans who lead Buffalo by 2 ½ games thanks to the head-to-head win.

In short, the Bills hopes of earning home field in the AFC Championship Game, which was the season’s goal, are virtually dashed. Now it’s a question whether even the playoffs are in their future.

New Orleans, meanwhile, is in a three-way tie for the last two NFC playoff spots, if the season ended today.

Clearly, this is a game both Buffalo and the Saints need for playoff positioning.

AND, HERE are the Bills, coming off their worst game of the season, and awful performances by the offenses, defense and special teams, trying to regroup in a short week.

As coach Sean McDermott noted, “There’s some bad, short turnarounds because you can’t really get back on the practice field for all that much time. But then there’s some good to it so you can move on and move forward.

“I’m not sure which one I like more, to be honest. At the end of the day, nobody wants to go through what we just went through. I believe we’re a better team (than what we showed). But we’ve got to play a better, complete game than we just did in all three phases.”

So what’s most important when playing a game four days after a humiliating defeat?

“We’ve got to be realistic,” McDermott said. “The best, most important, thing we can do is get them rested.

“Normally, I would say we’re a pretty sound, fundamental team … but we didn’t have it (Sunday), so we’ve got to go back and figure out why and get it back as soon as we can.”

For the second time, Buffalo’s defense, which came into the Indy game having surrendered the NFL’s fewest points and yards per game, got pushed around. The other was Tennessee, another strong running team.

The Bills now rank second in points surrendered (18 from 15) but are still first in yards given up but have gone from 274 to 284.

Offensively, they were first in points scored and yards gained per game, now they’re second in points per game (30) and down to fifth in yards (392).

McDermott allowed, “It’s a journey every season … it’s going to ebb and flow. That, to me, is part of the challenge. Not that you want to lose, but making those adjustments to get our team exactly where it needs to be and learning who you are as a team.

“We’ll see where we are after Thursday night.”

MEANWHILE, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, last season’s runner-up for NFL MVP, has now endured four substandard games (under 80.0 passer rating) in the Bills’ 10 starts.

That’s bad news for a pass-oriented team whose running game is suspect.

“It’s a terrible feeling,” he said of the loss to Indianapolis, “but at the same time we’ve got to play Thursday so this one’s got to be out of our system before (then).

“I think it’s a fortunate thing that we get to play on Thursday and try to get this taste out of our mouth.”

But the Saints are a cautionary tale.

Despite their .500 record, three of their wins are over division leaders –Green Bay, New England and Tampa Bay — to go with a pair of 2-point losses and a 6-pointer.

New Orleans could easily be 7-3 or 8-2, which makes Thursday’s game all the more interesting against a Buffalo team frantically trying to find its footing.