Sean McDermott May Have Reached His Ceiling as Bills Head Coach

It's been a god-awful past 48 hours for Buffalo Bills fans.

The Bills dropped their Monday Night Football game vs. the Denver Broncos, 24-22, in a game that the Broncos tried repeatedly to give the Bills. Denver kept punting and the Bills offense kept striking out with turnovers and punts.

Two fumbles lost and two Josh Allen interceptions came too much to overcome. The Bills still marched down the field withy James Cook and a Josh Allen touchdown run to take the lead.

The Bills had the game won, sacking Russell Wilson and forcing a 3rd and 16 near midfield with Denver out of timeouts. Head coach Sean McDermott inexcusably decided to call an all-out blitz, instead of dropping 7-8, and Taron Johnson was called for pass interference on Jerry Jeudy.

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Then the Broncos missed a game-winning field goal, but the Bills had 12 men on the field. Denver made good on their second chance and the Bills suffered the worst loss of the McDermott era.

On Tuesday morning, the Bills fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. The move comes one season and 10 weeks into his OC career for Buffalo, after being the quarterbacks coach for three years under Brian Daboll.

Dorsey had struggles for sure and deserved blame, but we are now at the point where the head coach deserves heat as well...maybe even a lot of heat from fans and media.

McDermott has a winning record and has led the Bills to four straight playoff appearances, but with one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL, the Bills have made just one AFC title game and zero Super Bowls.

The Bills have made changes: they fired their special teams coach after the 13 seconds game vs. the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional round; a move many called the sacrificial lamb firing. Then, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier stepped away from the Bills and NFL, as his contract was up. Now, McDermott fires Dorsey.

Now, McDermott gambles on switching coordinators with playoff hopes slipping away. He talked to the media on Tuesday afternoon and refused to elaborate on why he made the change at OC. McDermott said he made the decision alone, yet refused to give details on why he felt the change needed to happen, which didn't sit well with some fans and media members.

Matt Parrino of Syracuse dot com asked McDermott about his accountability and that wasn’t exactly something the head coach was pleased with.

Then we have this quote, which seems to lay blame on the 12 men on the field penalty at the feet of special teams coordinator, Matthew Smiley.

The Bills have lost the most ridiculous games over the last three years:

• Hail Murray
• The 2021 Patriots wind game (where New England attempted two passes)
• 13 seconds vs. the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional round
• The Vikings loss in November of 2022 (Justin Jefferson catch, and Allen fumbled at his own goal line)
• The no-show vs. the Bengals in the AFC Divisional round
• The Steelers opener in 2021
• The Jets opener in 2023
• Monday Night Football vs. the Broncos (12 men on the field)

These kinds of losses happening time and time again are not normal. The Bills have made changes at OC, DC and ST. The next logical step is making a change at head coach.

Obviously, the odds of McDermott being let go is low, since his playoff track record is so good here. However, it's now at least in the realm of possibility after what has transpired this season and on Monday.

We may have to come to the realization that the Bills have reached their ceiling with McDermott as their head coach. He might not be the right man for the job, for Josh Allen, this offense and roster. At some point, the Bills have to get over the hump and have to stop it with the ridiculous, crazy losses that sets the franchise back.