ClutchPoints
The Buffalo Bills had a nightmarish end to the 2025 season. Buffalo lost a heartbreaking overtime game against Denver that featured plenty of mistakes on both sides of the football. That crushing playoff loss clearly shook the organization, as the Bills decided to fire head coach Sean McDermott on Monday.
Buffalo’s decision to fire McDermott has already received plenty of backlash. One common argument is that McDermott is being scapegoated despite proving himself as an excellent head coach over the past several seasons.
It does not help the optics that QB Josh Allen had a sloppy game against Denver.
Allen made his fair share of mistakes against the Broncos. He went 25-of-39 for 283 passing yard with three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also added 12 carries for 66 rushing yards.
Beyond those two interceptions, Allen was also sacked three times and lost two fumbles.
Allen took full responsibility for Buffalo’s loss, citing his turnovers as the main reason why the game got out of hand.
“I let my teammates down tonight. … It’s been a long season. Hate how it ended,” Allen said. “This is gonna stick with me for a long time… Can’t win with 5 turnovers.”
To critics, Saturday’s ugly loss probably looks more like a fluke than a fundamental problem with the team as presently constructed.
But did McDermott deserve to be fired? And who will the Bills find to replace him?
Below we will explore why the Bills were right to fire Sean McDermott following Buffalo’s playoff exit.
Let’s start by acknowledging that McDermott is a talented head coach.
He led the Bills to a 98-50 regular-season record in nine seasons. During that stretch, the Bills were the second-winningest team in the NFL. So that should count for something.
Unfortunately, the Bills just could not get the job done in the playoffs under McDermott.
On paper, it looks okay that McDermott is 8-8 during the playoffs. But when you dig into the details, it is easy to see that Buffalo was unable to sustain success in the postseason.
Let’s take a look at how the Bills fared in the playoffs after Josh Allen arrived in 2018.
McDermott had seven opportunities to make the Super Bowl with Allen. In my opinion, that’s more than enough time for ownership to get a little antsy.
This is a tough situation because solely based on Buffalo’s performance on Saturday, I don’t actually think firing McDermott makes sense. But when considering the history, I can understand why Buffalo’s ownership wanted a change.
If the Bills want to spice things...
