ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills fired coach Sean McDermott on Monday after the team again failed to reach the Super Bowl in his nine seasons, two people with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.
The move came two days after the Bills were eliminated in a heart-wrenching 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional round of the playoffs. The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the moved.
McDermott’s tenure ends after nine seasons in which he transformed the franchise into a perennial winner but was knocked for failing to make a Super Bowl appearance. Buffalo became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six consecutive years but not reach the Super Bowl.
The Bills went 12-5 in the regular season and saw their five-year run atop the AFC East end, finishing second behind the New England Patriots.
The 51-year-old McDermott finished with a 98-50 regular-season record and was 8-8 in the playoffs, ranking second on the team list in wins behind Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy (112-70, 11-8). Levy did so over 11 seasons during a tenure that included the Jim Kelly-led team reaching — and losing — four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
McDermott’s failure to reach the Super Bowl with Josh Allen at quarterback became his undoing. Though Allen has broken many of Kelly’s passing and scoring records, the Bills have advanced to the AFC championship game just twice — and lost both times to Kansas City — during a team-record seven-year playoff run.
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 his playoff inconsistencies, McDermott oversaw a team that won 10 or more regular-season games over seven straight seasons, including two team record-matching 13-win seasons in 2022 and ’24.
Buffalo reached the playoffs in eight of McDermott’s nine seasons. That includes 2017, when the Bills sneaked into the postseason on the final day to end a 17-year playoff drought that at the time was the longest active streak in North America’s four major pro sports.
The Bills became a model of stability under McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, who arrived in May 2017. And now they undergo their first coaching search since McDermott took over for Rex Ryan, who was fired after two seasons in Buffalo.
McDermott was hired after spending six seasons as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator. Before that, he broke into the NFL in 1999 as a member of Andy Reid’s first staff in Philadelphia. McDermott worked his way up the ranks to become the Eagles’ defensive coordinator before being fired in 2010.
With Allen turning 30 in May, the Bills are expected to target an offensive-minded coach to spur an offense in which the quarterback was too often asked to carry the load.
The NFL’s 2024 MVP’s production dropped this season. He finished with 3,668 yards and 25 touchdowns passing, his lowest output since his second season in 2019.
The Bills did get a boost from running back James Cook, who became Buffalo’s first player to win the NFL’s rushing title since O.J. Simpson in 1976.
The defense struggled in part because of a transition to youth and a rash of injuries. Though Buffalo’s defense finished ranked seventh in the NFL this season, the unit had difficulty stopping the run.
It’s in the playoffs where the defense was criticized for collapsing too often. Buffalo allowed 30 or more points in four of its playoff losses.
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