Getty
Brandon Beane offered a fiery response when asked about his recent promotion.
Both Buffalo Bills fans and those that follow the NFL could not believe that Sean McDermott could have gotten fired while Brandon Beane survived.
So Beane addressed the naysayers and those who were calling for his job with a fiery response at the end of his and owner Terry Pegula’s post-season press conference Wednesday in Western New York.
The Bills, of course, fired McDermott after nine seasons and a 98-50 regular-season record after they were eliminated 33-30 in overtime by the AFC’s No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos. Buffalo went 12-5 and finished second in the AFC East behind only the rival New England Patriots, who will take on Denver in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.
Buffalo, of course, has never won the Super Bowl and has not reached the NFL championship since 1993 — the last of its infamous four straight Super Bowl losses.
Brandon Beane: ‘There’s Always Things We Can Do Better’
The Bills roster was, at best, decimated by injury and more realistically could be described as negligently thin. Yet, Beane not only survived but was promoted to president of football operations while retaining his role as GM and overseeing the search for a new head coach.
But Beane was taken aback by the question of what he would say to members of Bills Mafia that the wrong person was fired. He vehemently defended his roster construction while reminding fans it was Pegula who decided to keep him on.
“I believe in our players, OK?” Beane said. “I’m always going to defend our players. It’s up to Terry to decide who’s the head coach, who is the GM of the Buffalo Sabres [and] the Buffalo Bills. You’d have to ask him on the decision he made.”
Beane did take accountability for some of the roster issues the Bills dealt with. But his main argument was one that McDermott could have made too: that his work set Buffalo up for success, even though it fell short of the Super Bowl again.
“Is there things that I can do better? Yes,” Beane said. “We’re always looking to improve our roster. It’s a 12-month process.
“We’ve won at least one playoff game in six straight years, [been to] a couple of AFC Championships. … We put ourselves in a position to win each year, [won] a lot of division titles, but we were right there with the No. 1 team again.
“We could sit here and defend it all day, but at the end of the day I believe in our group, and it’s up to us this offseason to make the right changes, the right tweaks after we get this head coach.”
Brandon Beane’s Seat Is Burning Hot
The fact the question “what would you say to fans who wanted you fired” was reasonably uttered makes it clear, but Beane’s rope is getting shorter by the day.
The Bills seem most likely to hire former offensive coordinator and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll to replace McDermott — barring an unforeseen turn of events. That means Pegula is poised to turn over one of the most important seasons in franchise history to two men who have shown no ability to push the Bills over the top.
The Bills will open their new Highmark Stadium in the late summer and will be one of the favorites to win the AFC and Super Bowl again — particularly with Patrick Mahomes likely to miss some time during the 2026 regular season.
Beane, who like McDermott was hired in 2017, has overseen an era of regular-season prominence marred by postseason failure and is still getting to hire a second head coach. He has nowhere left to hide.
Pat Pickens is an experienced sports writer and media personality who has written for outlets like NHL.com, the Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today. He covers the NFL, NBA, NHL and NBA as a breaking news contributor at Heavy. More about Pat Pickens
More Heavy on Bills
Loading more stories