ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills fired coach Sean McDermott on Monday after the team again failed to reach the Super Bowl in his nine seasons.
The move came two days after the Bills were eliminated in a heart-wrenching 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“Sean helped change the mindset of this organization and was instrumental in the Bills becoming a perennial playoff team,” owner Terry Pegula said. ”But I feel we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level."
As part of the new structure, Pegula announced he was promoting general manager Brandon Beane to president of football operations. Beane, who also is completing his ninth season in Buffalo, will oversee the coaching search.
The Bills went 12-5 in the regular season and saw their five-year run atop the AFC East end, finishing second behind the New England Patriots. Buffalo became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six consecutive years but not reach the Super Bowl.
McDermott’s firing is the latest in what’s become a seismic shift in the NFL’s coaching ranks this offseason. He became the 10th head coach to lose his job, joining a respected group that includes Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin. Harbaugh has since been hired by the New York Giants.
The 51-year-old McDermott finished with a 98-50 regular-season record and was 8-8 in the playoffs, ranking second on the team list in wins behind Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy (112-70, 11-8). Levy did so over 11 seasons during a tenure that included the Jim Kelly-led team reaching — and losing — four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
McDermott’s failure to reach the Super Bowl with Josh Allen at quarterback became his undoing. Though Allen has broken many of Kelly’s passing and scoring records, the Bills have advanced to the AFC championship game just twice — and lost both times to Kansas City — during a team-record seven-year playoff run.
The loss Saturday to the Broncos was a crushing blow, with Allen nearly inconsolable at the postgame podium, blaming himself for an outing in which he threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.
McDermott rallied to Allen's defense, saying the loss wasn't on the quarterback. And then the usually calm coach showed his emotions when questioning the officials' ruling on Allen's second interception, which ended Buffalo's lone possession in overtime.
Receiver Brandin Cooks came down with Allen's deep pass but had it wrestled out of his hands by Ja’Quan McMillian. Officials ruled McMillian had the ball before Cooks was down by contact, and Denver was awarded the turnover at its 20.
McDermott, who was a member of the NFL's competition committee overseeing rules, believed Cooks came down with the ball, and he also was dismayed over why officials took little time to review the play.
“I'm standing up for Buffalo, damn it. I'm standing up for us,” McDermott said. “The guys spend three hours out there playing football, pouring their guts out to not even say, ‘Hey, let’s slow this thing down.' That's why I'm bothered."
Buffalo’s last three playoff losses have all been decided by three points. And three of McDermott’s playoff losses ended in overtime.
That includes a 42-36 loss to Kansas City in the 2021 divisional round that’s become dubbed “13 seconds" — the amount of time Patrick Mahomes had to complete two passes for 44 yards and set up Harrison Butker’s tying, 49-yard field goal on the final play of regulation.
Despite his playoff inconsistencies, McDermott oversaw a team that won 10 or more regular-season games over seven straight seasons, including two team record-matching 13-win seasons in 2022 and '24.
Buffalo reached the playoffs in eight of McDermott’s nine seasons. That includes 2017, when the Bills sneaked into the postseason on the final day to end a 17-year playoff drought that at the time was the longest active streak in North America’s four major pro sports.
The Bills became a model of stability under McDermott and Beane, who arrived in May 2017. And now they undergo their first coaching search since McDermott took over for Rex Ryan, who was fired after two seasons in Buffalo.
McDermott was hired after spending six seasons as the Carolina Panthers' defensive coordinator. Before that, he broke into the NFL in 1999 as a member of Andy Reid’s first staff in Philadelphia. McDermott worked his way up the ranks to become the Eagles' defensive coordinator before being fired in 2010.
With Allen turning 30 in May, the Bills are expected to target an offensive-minded coach to spur an offense in which the quarterback was too often asked to carry the load.
The NFL’s 2024 MVP’s production dropped this season. He finished with 3,668 yards and 25 touchdowns passing, his lowest output since his second season in 2019.
The Bills did get a boost from running back James Cook, who became Buffalo’s first player to win the NFL’s rushing title since O.J. Simpson in 1976.
The defense struggled in part because of a transition to youth and a rash of injuries. Though Buffalo’s defense finished ranked seventh in the NFL this season, the unit had difficulty stopping the run.
It’s in the playoffs where the defense was criticized for collapsing too often. Buffalo allowed 30 or more points in four of its playoff losses.
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