January 19th, 2026 -- a dark and embarrassing day in Buffalo Bills history (LAMP)

[Logic]

It was probably time to move on from Sean McDermott. 

After seven bites at the playoff apple with Josh Allen under center and zero Super Bowl appearances to show for it (not to mention a ghastly 31+ ppg allowed in seven straight playoff losses), parting ways with the head coach and trying something new was warranted. No head coach since Bill Cowher has won his first Super Bowl with a team past his 9th season, and he didn't do it until his 14th. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to Hank Stram in 1971 (year 10).

Yes, it was probably time.

 

HOWEVER...

The WAY that the Buffalo Bills went about relieving Coach McDermott yesterday was truly gross. It was disappointing. It was classless. It was, frankly, disgusting.

The slapdash, hurried-seeming, and very chilly press release from Terry Pegula? Awful. The fact that no one among the entire staff at One Bills Drive could see fit to proof-read it, leading to a typo in the very first sentence? Ridiculous. The choice of the word "Admirable" to describe McDermott's time here, and the embarrassing use of the word "admiral" instead? Insulting. The fact that the Bills couldn't see fit to post McDermott's farewell statement on the official Bills social media accounts? Inexcusable.

Football is a business, and I have no problem relieving of his duties a head coach who ultimately couldn't bring a championship to Buffalo in nine seasons. But everything about their treatment of Coach McDermott on his way out screamed "drought era Bills". It reeked of the toxic, dysfunctional culture that existed here prior to McDermott's hire.

McDermott was a man who rebuilt this team and this organization from the ground up. Who took over a broken, beaten down, irrelevant franchise, and who brought it a winning and loving culture, winning football, relevancy, and prestige. Who helped bring the Buffalo Bills team five straight division championships. Who was arguably the second greatest Bills head coach of all time.

A man who conducted himself with class, dignity, integrity, character, resilience, toughness, and faith, and who brought those qualities to the team he coached. A man who wove himself into the fabric of the community and became as much a Buffalonian as any native western New Yorker. Who navigated multiple weather displacement events, a shooting in the community, and a player's heart stopping on the field.

And the Bills thanked him by sending him on his way with a cold and hasty press release, telling him he'd done an admiral job, and then never spoke of him again. 

Yesterday was the first day since prior to Sean McDermott's arrival that I felt gross and embarrassed to be a Bills fan. The first day that I saw that toxic, dysfunctional, pre-McDermott era of One Bills Drive rear its ugly head in NINE years. And wouldn't you know it? It happened the SECOND Sean McDermott was out of the building.

The optics of an underperforming, thin-skinned general manager winning a power struggle, forcing out a head coach, and then getting promoted and outlasting said coach are hard to ignore. The optics of giving a sudden, abrupt, chilly, poorly written sendoff to a coach that meant so much to this team, its players, and this community are even worse.

For a team that has preached "One Buffalo", character, faith, family, and culture for nearly a decade, the way the Buffalo Bills organization conducted itself yesterday was appalling. It was humiliating. It was cold. It was amateurish. It was unacceptable.

January 19th will go down as a dark day in Buffalo Bills history. Not because the team released a head coach, but because of the way in which they did it, and because of the ways in which they've signaled they'll be operating from here on out.

Sean McDermott deserved better in his dismissal. Bills fans deserve better, too.

 

Edited January 20 by Logic

[corta765]

I will just say this.

Breakups are never easy, pretty or clean. Yeah the Bills could have done it better and I wish they did optically. But it was never going to go down well especially with the rift that had developed.

[zow2]

I'm not going to be butt hurt over the way this went down.  Divorce can be ugly.  Nobody is throwing the other person a parade when it all goes down.  The Buffalo Bills are like many huge companies.  Either you are ascending, getting better, delivering and rewarding your shareholders... or you are descending and eventually die off.  Nothing stays the same.

 

 

[GoBills808]

stop worrying about optics so much

 

super bowls are whats important

[Psautcsk]

15 minutes ago, Logic said:

It was probably time to move on from Sean McDermott. 

After seven bites at the playoff apple with Josh Allen under center and zero Super Bowl appearances to show for it (not to mention a ghastly 31+ ppg allowed in seven straight playoff losses), parting ways with the head coach and trying something new was warranted. No head coach since Bill Cowher has won his first Super Bowl with a team past his 9th season, and he didn't do it until his 14th. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to Hank Stram in 1971 (year 10).

Yes, it was probably time.

 

HOWEVER...

The WAY that the Buffalo Bills went about relieving Coach McDermott yesterday was truly gross. It was disappointing. It was classless. It was, frankly, disgusting.

The slapdash, hurried-seeming, and very chilly press release from Terry Pegula? Awful. The fact that no one among the entire staff at One Bills Drive could see fit to proof-read it, leading to a typo in the very first sentence? Ridiculous. The choice of the word "Admirable" to describe McDermott's time here, and the embarrassing use of the word "admiral" instead? Insulting. The fact that the Bills couldn't see fit to post McDermott's farewell statement on the official Bills social media accounts? Inexcusable.

Football is a business, and I have no problem relieving of his duties a head coach who ultimately couldn't bring a championship to Buffalo in nine seasons. But everything about their treatment of Coach McDermott on his way out screamed "drought era Bills". It reeked of the toxic, dysfunctional culture that existed here prior to McDermott's hire.

McDermott was a man who rebuilt this team and this organization from the ground up. Who took over a broken, beaten down, irrelevant franchise, and who brought it a winning and loving culture, winning football, relevancy, and prestige. Who helped bring the Buffalo Bills team five straight division championships. Who was arguably the second greatest Bills head coach of all time.

A man who conducted himself with class, dignity, integrity, character, resilience, toughness, and faith, and who brought those qualities to the team he coached. A man who wove himself into the fabric of the community and became as much a Buffalonian as any native western New Yorker. Who navigated multiple weather displacement events, a shooting in the community, and a player's heart stopping on the field.

And the Bills thanked him by sending him on his way with a cold and hasty press release, telling him he'd done an admiral job, and then never spoke of him again. 

Yesterday was the first day since prior to Sean McDermott's arrival that I felt gross and embarrassed to be a Bills fan. The first day that I saw that toxic, dysfunctional, pre-McDermott era of One Bills Drive rear its ugly head in NINE years. And wouldn't you know it? It happened the SECOND Sean McDermott was out of the building.

The optics of an underperforming, thin-skinned general manager winning a power struggle, forcing out a head coach, and then getting promoted and outlasting said coach are hard to ignore. The optics of giving a sudden, abrupt, chilly, poorly written sendoff to a coach that meant so much to this team, its players, and this community are even worse.

For a team that has preached "One Buffalo", character, faith, family, and culture for nearly a decade, the way the Buffalo Bills organization conducted itself yesterday was appalling. It was humiliating. It was cold. It was amateurish. It was unacceptable.

January 19th will go down as a dark day in Buffalo Bills history. Not because the team released a head coach, but because of the way in which they did it, and because of the ways in which they've signaled they'll be operating from here on out.

Sean McDermott deserved better in his dismissal. Bills fans deserve better, too.

 

If the Patriots sucked this year, would any of this happened?

[pi2000]

Just now, corta765 said:

I will just say this.

Breakups are never easy, pretty or clean. Yeah the Bills could have done it better and I wish they did optically. But it was never going to go down well especially with the rift that had developed.

 

It feels like the news of his firing was leaked to the press before the Bills could issue a formal statement. 

 

They probably we're planning to hold a press conference later in the week to announce the firing and answer questions, but instead they were forced to rush something out to the press as the news was leaked almost immediately.... probably by McDermott himself!

[boyst]

There was no great way to do it. RIP the Band-Aid off

[T.E.]

The press release with the typo was embarrassing and "admirable," even when spelled correctly, does carry a connotation of failure, which is not how I would describe the McDermott era.

 

That being said, he took several thinly-veiled shots at the roster management this year, so I'm not surprised that Beane didnt go out of his way to give him a big-smiles-and-hugs, ceremonial send-off.

[gonzo1105]

Oh lord haha 

[Bray Wyatt]

This is all over a typo in the press release. Yeah they messed that up, but a dark and embarassing day? Hardly.

You dont go gushing over the person you just canned. If you felt so great about them, why fire them then?

 

Pegula showed everyone in the building that just getting to the playoffs and losing was not good enough. 

 

 

Edited January 20 by Bray Wyatt

[DrDawkinstein]

Oh my god, you drama queens. Build a bridge and get over it. It was a firing. 

 

"The press release had a typo!!" So *****ig what? Suck it up.

 

edit:

@Marcus Aurelius, the king of stoicism, disagreeing with this post is peak irony

Edited January 20 by DrDawkinstein

[RochesterLifer]

I posted this in the "Thank you, Sean" thread. I think it is also relevent here.

 

McDermott's dismissal will go down as a stain in the Buffalo Bills’ history. They fired a very good coach and an even better human being. A large part of my joy in cheering for the Bills was due to the dignity, character, and honor the organization and team carried their colors with. I am very sad and increasingly angry. It is going to be to take me a while to muster enthusiasm for next season. Even then, it will be tempered.
Thank you Coach McDermott, you were a gift to western NY. 

[Shortchaz]

I think it was a little red meat for the fans. 

[BuffaloBillyG]

[Gilberto]

3 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

OMG lol... Nailed it 💀

[US Egg]

Since we’re going dark here, look at it like when Bon Scott died and Brian Johnson replaced him.
 

AC/DC went on to kick some @ss!

[Logic]

11 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

stop worrying about optics so much

 

super bowls are whats important

Super Bowls ARE what's important.

But human beings matter, too. 

You can't talk about culture, and One Buffalo, and family, and all of that stuff...and then treat the man who built and shepherded all of it the way the Bills just did.

Put differently: Nothing about feigning a little human decency toward your beloved, outgoing coach is going to negatively impact your quest for a Super Bowl. What said decency WILL do is show your fans and players that you have a modicum of thoughtfulness and decency.

It's truly not that hard to proofread a press release or post an outgoing coach's statement on your socials. Really. It wouldn't have killed them.

[Sweats]

In my line of work when you get fired, they want to get you out the door as quick as possible.........or you end up with a co-worker ****ting on your desk

 

Sadly, that's a true story right there.

[Walking Tall]

They should have held a parade for him. Built a statue….

 

Whatever. It obviously ended bad and there is probably no love lost at all between Beane/Pegula and McDermott. 
 

Who cares? It’s football. Not family members.

 

[Logic]

8 minutes ago, Bray Wyatt said:

This is all over a typo in the press release. Yeah they messed that up, but a dark and embarassing day? Hardly.

You dont go gushing over the person you just canned. If you felt so great about them, why fire them then?

 

Pegula showed everyone in the building that just getting to the playoffs and losing was not good enough. 

 

 

Go look at the way the Ravens released John Harbaugh (who, granted, won a Super Bowl there). 

I'm not alone in feeling this way, by the way.

Multiple analysts, fans, commentators, former players, both local and national, found yesterday's PR debacle and generally chilly handling of the situation to be unacceptable at best, and to portend a troubling shift in front office dynamics, at worst.