After the Bills lost to the Broncos 10 weeks ago tonight, it wasn’t looking good for Buffalo coach Sean McDermott.
That’s when things changed. The Bills, after replacing offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey with Joe Brady, got hot. They won six of seven games to finish the regular season as unlikely AFC East champions and the even more unlikely No. 2 seed in the AFC.
A win in the wild-card round over the Steelers seemed to cement things for McDermott. But then came Sunday, with another loss to the Chiefs in the postseason, and a second straight home loss in the divisional round.
The question for ownership becomes whether and to what extent big changes need to be made to get over the hump. Indeed, on Monday night “Fire McDermott” was trending on X.
That’s not to say change should be made. But it would be ludicrous to not at least consider whether one of the various big names on the market — from Bill Belichick to Jim Harbaugh to Mike Vrabel to even Pete Carroll — could get enough out of a team led by Josh Allen to surpass the Chiefs and return to the Super Bowl.
Is owner Terry Pegula content to be in the mix, or does he want to go all in? He owes it to himself, the team, and the city to at least consider the question.
Who wouldn’t want to coach the Bills? Who wouldn’t want to embrace a market like Buffalo? Belichick would surely love to be able to torment the Patriots with a short-list franchise quarterback who could be tutored by Josh McDaniels and pushed toward the top of the mountain.
That’s not to say McDermott “deserves” to go. But with six years of Allen as the starting quarterback, the Bills have made it to the AFC Championship only once. Even though they turned a disaster into a memorable finish, the ending was basically the same as it’s been every year since Allen became the starter.
The Bills are just good enough. The question for ownership is whether just good enough is just good enough, or whether the organization will be more aggressive in its pursuit of a long-coveted Super Bowl win in the remaining years of Allen’s prime.
Aggressive. That’s how McDermott justified a fake punt in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs that went nowhere. Will Pegula be aggressive when it comes to shaking up the status quo?
Again, I’m not saying Pegula should make a coaching change. But Pegula should at least consider his options, same as McDermott does when evaluating whether a starter should be benched for a backup who could end up being a lot better.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
