The Buffalo Bills have made a stunning decision Monday morning. Sean McDermott has been fired as the team’s head coach.
In a statement released by the team, owner Terry Pegula said:
“Sean has done an admirable job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons. 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. We owe that to our players and 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.
“Moving forward, Brandon Beane will now serve as the president of football operations/general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Brandon will oversee all facets of our football operation, including the oversight of our coaching staff. I have full faith in and have witnessed Brandon’s outstanding leadership style and have confidence in his abilities to lead our organization.”
The end comes after yet another gut-wrenching postseason loss, Saturday’s 33-30 overtime defeat in Denver, and even though McDermott led the Bills to eight playoff appearances in his nine seasons as coach, his inability to get the Bills to the Super Bowl is his undoing.
The reason this is stunning is that in 2025, McDermott may have done one of his best coaching jobs, winning 12 regular-season games plus a road wild-card playoff game, working with a roster that not only was questionable in terms of talent, but was then decimated by injury.
However, Pegula has decided the time is now to try something new with Josh Allen about to turn 30 years old and is in the middle of his career with not a single Super Bowl appearance on his resume.
It was interesting on Sunday that Allen was not present and did not speak to reporters as the team cleaned out its lockers. He has always been available on that day, but through the Bills’ PR department he told reporters he wanted to wait a couple days.
It was believed that he was still trying to process his thoughts after such a tough loss, one that drove him to tears. But perhaps he was in the know regarding McDermott’s future.
McDermott is heading to the unemployment line with a .650 winning percentage counting the postseason that ranks No. 1 among all active coaches with at least 100 games, and he led the Bills to seven consecutive double-digit win seasons
Among all coaches in NFL history with at least 100 games, McDermott’s winning percentage is 10th-best, trailing only Vince Lombardi, John Madden, George Allen, Blanton Collier, George Halas, Don Shula, Jim Harbaugh, Tony Dungy and Bill Belichick. Of that group, Lombardi, Madden, Halas, Shula and Dungy are already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Belichick will be there eventually.
Yet he is out of a job.
Sean McDermott was hired by the Bills in 2017
McDermott came to Buffalo in 2017 with the Bills riding an unfathomable 17-year playoff drought. It was a franchise in utter disarray after nearly two decades of coaching changes, bad quarterbacks, bad defenses, bad everything.
In his first season, McDermott willed the Bills to the postseason – yes, there was a big assist from Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd of the Bengals – but he did it. And he did it with a team that was still devoid of top-level talent.
Then came the selection of Allen in 2018, a year to reset under a rookie quarterback, followed by seven consecutive postseason qualifications. The Bills are the only team currently on a seven-year postseason appearance streak, and the only one to have won at least one playoff game in six straight years.
In the regular season, he was 98-50, won five AFC East titles, made two AFC title game appearances. Again, it’s a stunning move, and what’s incredible is that for most of this past season, Beane was the man under just as much fire because of the roster he put together.
Not only does Beane survive, he received a new title and seemingly more control, and he will be in charge of the search for the next head coach.
Former Bills center and current radio analyst Eric Wood, who played one season under McDermott, tweeted this out Monday morning: “Sean McDermott was an incredible hire for the Bills when he took over in 2017. I’m grateful for all he did for the organization. Sean is a great man and will be a great hire for another organization and I hate we couldn’t get over the hump with him as HC in Buffalo.”
This much you can count on: Wood is right because with so many head coaching vacancies right now, McDermott is going to have a new job perhaps within the week.
Buffalo Bills coaching candidates after Sean McDermott’s firing
As for the Bills, it’s anyone’s guess where they go from here, but the likelihood that Beane looks for someone with an offensive background is pretty high.
Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has been on the interviewing trail for other head coaching jobs – he has already met with the Ravens, Raiders and Dolphins – so it’s possible the Bills could turn the reins over to him. However, while Brady is obviously a good playcaller, when you look at what he’s done with the downfield passing game since he became the OC in 2023, there’s not much to like.
Could former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll come back to Buffalo? Maybe, given his tight relationship with Allen and the fact that he built the foundation upon which Allen became a superstar.
Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is considered the best offensive mind available, but there is some question about whether he’s better suited to being just a coordinator as opposed to a head coach. McDaniel as the head coach in Buffalo simply doesn’t seem like a fit.
Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has become a hot candidate and is getting plenty of interest, though Seattle is still alive in the postseason so he can’t be hired yet. Of course, if the Bills are interested, that’s a good thing that he hasn’t been hired already. Kubiak coming out of the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree is certainly something the Bills should consider.
If the Bills wanted to go with another defensive-minded coach, the top candidates in this cycle have been Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Seahawks DC Aden Durde, Vikings DC Brian Flores, and Broncos DC Vance Joseph.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills fire head coach Sean McDermott in stunning move: What we know
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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