![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2240858314_a2fcd9-e1769028827444.jpg\")
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Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula said the Bills hitting a “proverbial playoff wall” was the reason former head coach Sean McDermott was fired. <\/p>\n
Buffalo Bills<\/a> owner Terry Pegula and president of football operations\/general manager Brandon Beane sat in front of the media and answered questions for nearly an hour following the Bills\u2019 latest exit from the AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n They discussed the development of wide receiver Keon Coleman<\/a>, the future structure of the organization, quarterback Josh Allen\u2019s injury status<\/a>, and their inevitable search for a new head coach.<\/p>\n Pegula\u2019s reasoning for firing former head coach Sean McDermott was among the most noteworthy topics.<\/p>\n Pegula said he made up his mind following Buffalo\u2019s 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos<\/a>. He added that he felt the Bills had hit a \u201cproverbial playoff wall\u201d under McDermott and needed a change to win a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one year after another,\u201d Pegula said alongside Beane at their end-of-season press conference<\/a>. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t see us doing that with Sean. It\u2019s not an easy decision, trust me, with that success. But what is success? Is it being in the playoffs seven years in a row with no Super Bowl?\u201d<\/p>\n McDermott led the Bills for nine seasons, made the playoffs in eight of them, including snapping a 17-year playoff drought in 2017, and produced a 98-50 record. The Bills won at least one playoff game in each of the past six seasons.<\/p>\n Playoff Loss to the Denver Broncos Impacted Terry Pegula\u2019s Decision GettyBuffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen solemnly walks off the field after losing to the Denver Broncos, 33-30.<\/p>\n While speaking on the decision to fire McDermott, Pegula cited his experience in the locker room following the Bills\u2019 loss to the Broncos. He described how that contributed to his decision to fire McDermott two days later.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked around, and the first thing I noticed was our quarterback with his head down, crying,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cI looked at all the other players. I looked at their faces and our coaches. I walked over to Josh. He didn\u2019t even acknowledge I was there. The first thing I said to him was, \u2018That was a catch.\u2019 We all know what I\u2019m talking about. He didn\u2019t acknowledge me. He just sat there sobbing. He was listless. He had given everything he had to try and win that game. Looking around, so did all the other players on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n He later added: \u201cI saw the pain in Josh\u2019s face at his (news conference). And I felt his pain. I know we can do better, and I know we will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bills suffered their sixth-straight playoff loss without a trip to the Super Bowl. It comes after many end-of-season shortcomings. That list includes the \u201c13-second\u201d game against the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, two trips to the AFC Championship, and others.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Pegula began to question Buffalo\u2019s leader on the field.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was where does the leadership of the team on the field and in the locker room, where do we go from that moment \u2013 another playoff failure,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I decided Sean had to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Josh Allen Had No Say in Pegula\u2019s Decision<\/p>\n One of the most surprising discoveries from the press conference was that Allen had no input on McDermott\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n Pegula said he talked to Allen after McDermott was fired, but kept the contents of that conversation private. He added that Allen will play a role in the search for a new head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t have any input at all \u2014 I didn\u2019t talk to Josh about this,\u201d Pegula told reporters. \u201cI talked to him after, and that convo will stay private, but he had no input in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGreg Macafee<\/a> Greg Macafee is a veteran sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He most recently covered the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh for DK Pittsburgh Sports and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. More about Greg Macafee<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bills\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula said the Bills hitting a “proverbial playoff wall” was the reason former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-694825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2256820427-e1769031093251.jpg\")
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