The Buffalo Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott on Monday, the team announced, ending his nine-season tenure with the franchise marked by great regular-season success that never materialized into a Super Bowl appearance.
The Bills were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday in a 33-30 loss to the Denver Broncos in overtime, a game in which quarterback Josh Allen committed four turnovers. While Buffalo has won a playoff game in each of the last six seasons, it failed to reach a Super Bowl under McDermott.
Bills owner Terry Pegula praised McDermott before he added that he feels that "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. We owe that to our players and to [our fans].”
The loss to the Broncos was the latest in a series of devastatingly close defeats in recent seasons for a franchise that has a long history of heartbreak. Including Saturday’s loss, four of the Bills’ last five playoff losses have come in one-score games, including two in overtime. The combined margin of defeat in those four losses is only 15 points.
In recent seasons, Buffalo and MVP quarterback Allen have been tormented by the Kansas City Chiefs and their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. Since 2020, four of the Bills’ postseason defeats have come at the hands of the Chiefs.
McDermott began his NFL coaching career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, and from 2002 through 2010 he served in a variety of defensive assistant positions for the team. From 2011 to 2016, he was the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
Buffalo hired McDermott in January 2017 and made the playoffs in his first season. After it drafted Allen in 2018, he and McDermott formed a formidable partnership, winning the AFC East five straight seasons from 2020 through 2024.
After they failed to reach the postseason from 2000 through 2016, the Bills made the playoffs eight times during McDermott’s nine seasons. McDermott’s first postseason win in the 2020 season also ended a playoff-win drought that dated to 1995.
Despite reaching the postseason in seven straight years, however, McDermott’s Bills made the AFC championship game only twice — and lost to Kansas City both times.
McDermott finished his Buffalo tenure with a 98-50 record, a .662 winning percentage that’s 15th-best in NFL history. His playoff record was 8-8.
While McDermott’s time with the Bills is done, Pegula announced that general manager Brandon Beane would be promoted to president of football operations and will have oversight of the coaching staff. Beane, who was hired as GM in 2017, will lead the search for a new head coach.
