Posted on 01/19/2026 6:54:31 AM PST by BlueStateRightist
The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Sean McDermott after another season that failed to end in a Super Bowl appearance, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
You can use the Dallas Cowboys as a perfect example of this. Whoever the coach is has to work with the inferior talent Jerry Jones provides.
Maybe worse was Baltimore firing it’s highly successful coach for missing the playoffs when his all-world QB was laid up most of the season.
He was a good coach and a good man. Very respectful, and a strong Christian.
I think the Bills feel they are “wasting” Josh Allen’s prime years
Also, McDermott’s defensive philosophy of small, but fast players, playing mostly zone and “converging on the ball” has been getting progressively worse the last 3 years.
The NFL has gone full Disney.
Never go full Disney.
they considered firing him two years ago...the irony is after Harbaugh, the pools of coaching candidates suck this season
“The league has become intolerant of being good but not great.”
Not really. His firing just means reshuffle the deck. Its all a big soap opera, with McDermott being hired swiftly by another NFL team, as coach or defense/offense line coach. Or he might be demoted to a top university, and be back in the NFL in 4 years.
Tom Landry didn’t win the big one until his 12th season in Dallas. There were a lot of disappointments along the way.
The Seattle defense line and Denver defense line, appeared to be more stout.
But I favored the courage of the Bills and 49-rs.
I dislike Sean McDermott. But I respect him as a hardline coach. I viewed him as somewhat like an evil leprechaun, and I suspect he wouldn’t view that as an insult from an opposing fan.
And as a Patriot’s fan of many years who no longer religiously follows the NFL, I give him full credit and due for bringing the Buffalo Bills up to a playoff level for a few years now.
I don’t like the guy, but I respect him, and I see this as a mistake by the organization.
I feel it was driven by the fact that they spent money and time, building a team up, and were positioning the team to go all the way to the top.
The problem is, as it is with all sports teams (particularly the NFL) that you have a window. You build that team up, spend money, draft judiciously, and do it all so that you have a 2-3 year window in which you can make a push.
As people leave for other teams, retire, or lose their skillset, that window closes, and you have to start again to build a new window to make it to the top.
I believe that is what happened with Buffalo. The leadership likely viewed this as a window they had spent time and money building, and the team is bounced out after getting through the Wild Card Round.
That is what makes organizations like the New England Patriots remarkable. They went year after year for twenty years, building and rebuilding on the fly, over and over again to have competitive teams, and while Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were the core of that, the Kraft leadership deserves credit for staying the course, year after year. They built that window to the top repeatedly, and shortened the time frames to a point it seemed like one big window, but...it wasn’t.
It was a series of windows built open to the top, over and over again, and strung together so closely it seemed like one. And that is just one of the reasons the NFL hated the success of the Patriots.
They wanted, above all else, parity.
And in saying this, I am not in any way a fan of Robert Kraft, even if I can acknowledge his corporate skill as the owner of the team. I dislike nearly everything else about him, though I am sure if I met him in person he would seem very nice to me.
I think Buffalo made a mistake here.
I can imagine the meltdown at ESPN, seeing all four remaining QBs are white.
If I was Pagula I would have fired McDermitt after they lost to KC a couple years ago.
Allen is IMHO the best QB in the NFL today.
Yet, he seems to make mental errors in big games.
Like scrambling like he does holding the ball out away from his body like he often does. When he fumbled prior to the end of the first half on Saturday that resulted in Denver kicking a field goal. Most likely Buffalo would have kicked a field goal. That is a 6 point difference. Meaning, OT would not have been needed.
That was a bad call on the reception/interception in OT.
However, you can not turn the ball over 4-5 times and expect to win in the playoffs. Even if you are Tom Brady.
They're supposed to throw us a bone—bread and circuses but they're not even doing that lol
It was rumored IF the Bills had lost in the Wildcard game that McDermitt was toast.
That they would also be in the bidding to hire Harbaugh.
If I was Harbaugh I would consider going to the Bills IF I had a chance to have Allen as my QB as opposed to going to Big Blue.
He’ll be out of work for about a week... John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott have the same problem... Lots of success, but ultimately failure at the end of every season.
They can get a team there... But after you get there the players need to execute. They are both victims of players under performing in big games... That isn’t their fault, but you can’t fire a player who you’re paying hundreds of millions... It’s easier to fire the coach, and move on from there. The Ravens, Bills and Steelers are likely going to regress over the next couple of years. Their former coaches will likely do better in their new jobs.
Jeez...
Let’s see if we were watching the same game...
in the Bills loss:
* they did not punt the ball.
* the pass that put them in field goal range was ruled an interception, but the EXCAT same play the next day is ruled ‘ a catch’
* So, despite a stupid Josh Allen fumble near the end of the first half, The Bills would have been in a winning position - if the NFL rules regarding a legal catch were applied (as it was in the Rams-Bears game).
Being a life-long Bills fan, we blame Josh Allen for:
Loosing the coin toss - (2022)
Missing a field goal (2024)
A tight end dropping the ball on 4th and 5 (2025)
and a legal catch being ruled an interception (2026).
Sorry. still pissed, and this latest move has me even more salty.
just my $0.02
jimjohn - OUT
Lose in OT Saturday, fired on Monday. He’ll get another position and quickly. But he won’t have Josh Allen. I do think the Bills were victimized by bad calls but they should not have been in that position to begin with.
Big mistake, the Bills were devastated by injuries and Josh Allen was throwing to bums at the end. None of their WRs could make a play when it mattered. McDermott is a very good coach and he’ll end up in one of the open jobs.
Cue Mike Vrabel with Tennessee Titans. Funny how being fired has been a blessing for him.
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