In nine seasons under Sean McDermott, the Buffalo Bills made eight playoff appearances and advanced to the AFC Championship Game two times.
But a trip to the Super Bowl eluded the Bills, and now it will be up to another head coach to get them back there.
Buffalo fired McDermott on Monday, two days after the Bills were eliminated with a 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
“Sean has done an [admirable] job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons,” Bills owner Terry Pegula said in a statement. “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.”
Buffalo retained general manager Brandon Beane, who will lead the search for McDermott’s replacement. In addition to remaining the GM, Beane was promoted Monday to Buffalo’s president of football operations.
McDermott, 51, went 98-50 and won five AFC East titles during his time with the Bills from 2017-25. But Buffalo went 8-8 in the postseason, repeatedly coming up short despite the presence of superstar quarterback Josh Allen, the reigning NFL MVP.
Four of those playoff losses came against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, who missed the postseason this year.
In Saturday’s season-ending loss, the Bills committed five turnovers, including four by Allen.
The game ended in controversy after Broncos defensive back Ja’Quan McMillian ripped the ball away from wide receiver Brandin Cooks as the latter hit the ground — a play that was ruled an interception rather than a catch by Cooks.
During an impassioned postgame address, McDermott bemoaned how quickly the review process for that decisive turnover played out.
“I’m standing up for Buffalo, damn it,” McDermott said. “I’m standing up for us, because what went on is not how it should go down.”
Although the Bills (12-5) were a wild-card team and the AFC’s No. 6 seed — and featured roster deficiencies at wide receiver and on defense — many considered Saturday’s loss to be a squandered opportunity for Buffalo. That’s because the absences of top quarterbacks Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow made this a wide-open playoff field.
The Bills are one of 12 teams to never win a Super Bowl. They have not made it to a Super Bowl since 1994, which marked the last of four consecutive appearances that all ended in losses.
Buffalo becomes the 10th team to have a head-coaching vacancy this offseason, though two of the others — the Giants and Atlanta Falcons — have already filled theirs.
The Giants are set to officially introduce John Harbaugh as their head coach at a press conference Tuesday, while the Falcons hired Kevin Stefanski, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year.
The Bills immediately become one of the most desirable landing spots in a market in which the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals also have head coach openings.
Brian Daboll, whom the Giants fired as head coach in November after nearly four seasons, is among the available candidates. He was Buffalo’s offensive coordinator from 2018-21 and helped Allen develop over his first four seasons.
Other available coaches include Mike McDaniel, Mike McCarthy and Jesse Minter. Mike Tomlin, who stepped down as the Steelers’ head coach last week, would be the most accomplished candidate but is widely expected to pursue a TV job.
