The Buffalo Bills are making a major change following their latest playoff exit.
Sean McDermott has been fired as head coach after nine seasons, the team announced Monday. The Bills will also retain and promote general manager Brandon Beane to president of football operations, the team also announced.
“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,” Bills owner Terry Pegula said. “We owe that to our players and to Bills Mafia.
“Sean helped change the mindset of this organization and was instrumental in the Bills becoming a perennial playoff team. I respect all the work, loyalty and attention to detail he showed for this team and the community. I wish Sean, Jamie and his family all the best.”
McDermott was Buffalo’s most successful coach since Marv Levy led the Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, going 105-58 (including the postseason) in his tenure with the Bills.
McDermott led the Bills to the postseason in eight of his nine seasons. However, despite Josh Allen emerging as one of the game’s top quarterbacks, Buffalo did not make a Super Bowl under McDermott, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs twice in the AFC Championship Game.
The Bills’ latest playoff disappointment came on Saturday, when they lost to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round 33-30. While the Bills lost in overtime, one of the turning points of the game came right before halftime, when Buffalo tried to push the ball downfield instead of kneeling the clock out. Allen fumbled with a few seconds left, allowing Denver to kick an easy field goal and go up 20-10.
[5 Takeaways From the Broncos’ Win Over the Bills]
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 Buffalo’s playoff failures, McDermott oversaw a team that won 10 or more regular-season games seven straight seasons, including two team record-matching 13-win seasons, in 2022 and ’24.
The Bills’ decision to fire McDermott wasn’t welcomed by everyone in the organization, though. Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips ripped the move in a social media post on Monday.
“This s— here is so stupid honestly sickening. The best coach I’ve ever been around,” Phillips wrote in a message to his Instagram Story.
Bills defensive back Taron Johnson also seemed to rip the move, writing “smh” in a post to his Instagram Story. An unnamed Bills player told WGRZ in Buffalo that they thought McDermott’s firing was “bull—-.”
With the Bills firing McDermott, there have been 10 NFL head coaching changes this offseason. The New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons have since hired new coaches.
McDermott could be a candidate for any of the other seven head coach vacancies. He’s told his staff he plans to continue coaching, ESPN reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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