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The Buffalo Bills’ decision to fire head coach Sean McDermott following an overtime playoff loss to the Denver Broncos drew a rebuke from a Super Bowl champion.
Bruce Arians, who guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title during the 2020 season, ripped the Bills’ organization for the move on Tuesday.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on May 1, 2022. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
“This one confuses me,” Arians said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “How Brandon Beane got elevated and Sean McDermott got fired, it just blows my mind because they didn’t have any damn players.
“The guy’s one of the best coaches in the league and a great leader of men. He’s taken that team as close as you could get — couldn’t beat (Patrick) Mahomes. He didn’t throw any goddamn interceptions and the refs screwed him bad and he’s getting fired. I mean, come on man. And Brandon Beane gets it a f— hair I can’t raise.
The Bills failed to make it back to the AFC Championship Game after losing to the Broncos in overtime on a controversial interception call. The defeat marked another crushing blow to McDermott’s tenure as the Bills’ head coach.
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott during overtime of an AFC Divisional Round playoff game at Empower Field against the Denver Broncos at Mile High on January 17, 2026. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
BILLS QUARTERBACK’S WINES PEN HEARTFELT SOCIAL MEDIA POST FOR FAMILY OF FIRED COACH SEAN MCDERMOTT
McDermott took the job before the start of the 2017 season. Buffalo finished under .500 just once since then. He helped guide the Bills to the playoffs in eight of those nine seasons. The team reached the conference title game twice but never made it back to the Super Bowl.
NFL fans had confidence that the Bills could have been Super Bowl contenders going into the 2025 season. The Bills’ odds improved when their nemesis, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Buffalo fell short of winning the AFC East – falling to the New England Patriots. They made the playoffs via the wild card, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars by three points. But the loss to the Broncos ultimately doomed McDermott’s tenure as head coach.
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott against the Kansas City Chiefs during the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on January 26, 2025. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
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McDermott was 98-50 as the Bills’ head coach. He was 8-8 in the playoffs and missed the postseason just once.
