The Buffalo Bills shocked the NFL on Monday by firing head coach Sean McDermott, who was still under contract through 2027. The team, however, is reportedly making a different decision with general manager Brandon Beane.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Bills are retaining Beane, who will lead the search for a new head coach for the first time in years—with many candidates to replace McDermott as the Bills HC already emerging. McDermott served as the Bills head coach since 2017, but another playoff collapse sealed his fate.
According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Bills‘ brass thought the Divisional Round playoff against the Denver Broncos was winnable, and they got tired of seeing Buffalo fall short in the playoffs under McDermott.
“From recent conversations with people in the Bills’ organization, the sense I get is that it felt that there were opportunities to win Saturday in Denver, officiating or otherwise. Leadership felt a change was necessary after coming up short of the Super Bowl yet again,” Russini wrote on X.
Bills’ lack of playoff success seals Sean McDermott’s fate
Two things can be true. While McDermott led the Bills back to prominence after years of struggles, his team failed to deliver when it mattered most. Despite leading Buffalo to postseason appearances in eight of his nine years at the helm, he never made the Super Bowl.
And with a quarterback of Josh Allen’s caliber at his disposal, not reaching the big game in almost a decade is seen is a huge failure. Not even the five consecutive AFC East titles can hide that fact.
Overall, McDermott is leaving Buffalo with a 98-50 regular season record, in addition to an 8-8 playoff record. Now, Beane and the Bills will try to get their next coaching hire right to get over the hump once and for all.