Buffalo Bills fire Sean McDermott

The Buffalo Bills are firing head coach Sean McDermott, according to a report from NFL Network on Monday. Buffalo is the 10th NFL franchise to move on from its head coach this month; GM Brandon Beane is expected to lead the search for Buffalo's next head coach. 

The move comes two days after the Bills fell to the Denver Broncos in overtime in the AFC Divisional round, which many outsiders observed as a "make or break" game for this iteration of the franchise. 

Buffalo reached the playoffs eight times in McDermott's nine seasons, but never the Super Bowl. The Bills were in the AFC Championship in the 2020 season and 2024, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs both times. Kansas City did not make the playoffs this year, thereby removing McDermott's biggest roadblock -- and any excuses for not reaching the Big Game for the first time since the club reached, and lost, four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.

At 98-50 in the regular season and 8-8 in the playoffs, McDermott is easily the best coach Buffalo has employed since Marv Levy went 112-70 with those four AFC titles from 1986-97, but good enough is no longer good enough for the Bills, who will open a new stadium this fall and see franchise quarterback Josh Allen turn 30 this spring. 

Of course, Buffalo lost on Saturday in large part because Allen turned the ball over four times, and Allen gets to keep his job while McDermott pays the price -- but such is life in NFL coaching. 

Buffalo was McDermott's first head coaching job. He was Carolina's defensive coordinator from 2011-16, helping the Panthers reach the Super Bowl in 2015. Prior to that, McDermott was raised in Andy Reid's program with the Philadelphia Eagles, starting as an assistant to the head coach in 2001 and ending as defensive coordinator. There, he was part of teams that reached four straight NFC Championships, losing the first three before winning in the 2004 season -- only to lose to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX. 

More to come.