Following a devastating overtime playoff loss to the Denver Broncos, the Buffalo Bills made the decision to fire long-time head coach Sean McDermott.
Three months after his departure from the team, McDermott is finally speaking out about his tenure that came to a disappointing end.
Sean McDermott Talks Time with Buffalo Bills
From the 2020 to 2024 NFL seasons, McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen terrorized the AFC East, winning the division every year across those years. Along with that, McDermott had a regular-season record of 98-50 from 2017 – 2025, with only one losing season.
Yet the reason McDermott was fired wasn’t his regular-season performance; the team could never win the big game in the NFL playoffs to reach the Super Bowl. In 16 playoff games under McDermott, the team is 8-8.
The 2025 playoff loss to the Broncos was the final straw for Buffalo’s upper management, and the team decided to fire McDermott, replacing him with the offensive coordinator soon after.
The team had an explosive offense behind Allen and running back James Cook last season, ranking third overall in PFSN’s NFL Offensive Impact Metric with an impact score of 86.5 and a letter grade of B. The problem was with the defense, which McDermott oversaw the play-calling for. In 2025, they finished in PFSN’s NFL Defensive Impact Metric with an impact score of 78.0 and a letter grade of C+, ranking 13th in the league.
McDermott recently spoke with The Athletic’s Mike Jones about his departure from the Bills. “Sometimes when one door closes, another one opens, also, right?” McDermott said. “How many head coaches are able to do it for nine years and really take something, get it turned around, build a culture, break a 17-year playoff drought in the first season, and then go to the playoffs eight out of nine years?”
“I mean, we — and I say we because it wasn’t just me; collectively, we as a team — accomplished a lot,” McDermott added. “So when you kind of take a step back and go, ‘Hang on here,’ I think perspective is healthy and important, right and powerful, and just be like, ‘Hey, I can’t control the decision.’”
Even though McDermott never won the big one with the Bills, he undoubtedly turned the team’s culture around. From 2000 to 2016 (a year before McDermott’s hiring), the team consistently finished either third or fourth in the division. Only twice over that period did they finish the season with more wins than losses.
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“I think a lot of people want the type of relationship we had for a better part of nine years, myself, (general manager) Brandon (Beane), Terry, and I’m extremely grateful to both of them; to Terry for the opportunity he gave me, and then working together with Brandon, and I think that organization is in a great spot, McDermott added. “The piece that we control what we can control, that’s really where my focus is.”
Even though McDermott is gone and doesn’t have a coaching job right now, it’s apparent that there’s no ill will between him and the team. As the team looks to push itself to the Super Bowl, McDermott will watch from home for now.
