After the Buffalo Bills suffered a heartbreaking 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional Round, owner Terry Pegula walked into an upset Bills' locker room and made a hard decision to fire head coach Sean McDermott.
With general manager and president of football operations Brandon Beane right by Pegula's side, supporting the decision, it signals a new era of hierarchy in the Bills front office. The Bills' owner will now be less active in the franchise than he was as team president.
Now that they will start to move on and interview new head coaches, we are now beginning to hear things that really took place.
Bills decided it was time to let McDermott go over Beane
1. McDermott didn't share clear vision with Beane and Pegula
While Beane and McDermott had a co-existence back with the Carolina Panthers, many fans thought they would come together and ultimately leave together, bundled in a package.
While McDermott didn't always share the same vision as Pegula and Beane, Pegula and Beane watched games together from their booth, while McDermott coached the team on the field. McDermott just couldn't develop the talent he was given to win the big game.
But when the news broke that only McDermott was gone, some in the media realized that Beane could survive without him and lead the search for the new head coach. That is what the message clearly was, given what transpired.
2. McDermott didn't agree with the "Tush Push" play
From 2017-2022, it seemed that Beane and McDermott were pretty much on the same page on how to build a winning roster in a copycat league and a changing game year after year. But starting in 2023, when the league shifted back to a more run-first approach, with big personnel and jumbo sets, the Philadelphia Eagles took advantage of the rules with the "Tush Push".
While the Eagles said there was no problem with the play and didn't want it banned, the Bills began running their own version of it with quarterback Josh Allen and their big offensive line. With this play becoming popular between these two teams, one would think McDermott would like the play.
But then, the most condescending words came out of McDermott's mouth, and he said he's not for the play because of "injuries". That is also condescending to the league, as there's no data to support the claim that there are more injuries as a result of the play.
In 2024, when the Green Bay Packers made a rule proposal "banning" the innovative QB sneak play, of course, the Bills were among the 22 of 24 teams voting to support the ban. Fortunately, 10 teams voted against the ban, keeping the play legal for the 2025 NFL season.
Because the play was ruled legal, that didn't stop McDermott from running the play effectively. In the 31-27 Wildcard win, the Bills were 4-4 on converting the Tush Push despite being one of the teams that voted to ban it. On the flip side, the Jacksonville Jaguars were 0-4, struggling on defense, and were among the teams voting to ban it.
Give the Jags credit: they lost to the Bills in the playoffs, but at least they were on the right side of a controversy over not banning a play just because only a few teams know how to run it. After all, you don't ban the "flea flicker" or the "Philly special" because defenses can give up big plays that lead to touchdowns, you work on the plays as a team to get better at them.
3. The roster was questionable under McDermott
Yes, Beane is the GM, and we know he's responsible for picking the players, but McDermott was supposed to be this defensive-minded coach. Every year, the team would invest heavily in that side of the ball, only to crumble in the playoffs. Perhaps the forshadowing breaking point was the 13-second game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Divisional Round.
After the Bills lost that game in overtime 42-36, the cameras caught Beane and McDermott getting into a shouting match about that last defensive scheme, only rushing three players with 13 seconds left. Of course, the refs missed defensive end Boogie Basham being held on the play, which, in hindsight, would never have led to the game-tying field goal, but this was one of many playoff games where the Bills let the game come down to the officials.
This was the year. This is when Sean should’ve been fired. I love you Sean but I never felt the same way after this game. Complete and utter collapse and wasted the best Josh has ever looked https://t.co/ZysCZW2HXJ
— Tom Buckley (@tbuck_527) January 22, 2026
Of course, the Bills couldn't figure out who their true No. 1 receiver was after trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans in 2024. While in hindsight, losing Diggs, the talented wide receiver, does sting, but he was a diva who just wanted the ball too much.
Another reason they didn't go for a No. 1 receiver, too, is that they wanted to stick to the receiver-by-committee, as they call it, "Everybody Eats".
The one thing Beane did that convinced Pegula to keep him was not that he couldn't go grab receiver Jakobi Myers; it was that he didn't mortgage a 2027 first-round pick to get receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Waddle is a very talented receiver, but he's not a prototypical No. 1 like A.J. Brown or Diggs. He's a slot type that GMs should never mortgage a future 1st-round pick for.
Kudos to Beane for making sure the Bills still have a first round pick for 2027 besides 2026.