Ranking Sean McDermott’s 5 biggest mistakes that led to Bills firing, including 13 seconds

Billy Heyen

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Ranking Sean McDermott’s 5 biggest mistakes that led to Bills firing, including 13 seconds image

The Buffalo Bills had a quarterback, and a handful of teams, that could've won a Super Bowl.

But head coach Sean McDermott never got them there. And that, in its totality, is why the Bills chose to move on from McDermott on Monday.

He did many great things in his Buffalo tenure. He lifted the Bills up, working alongside Allen to create a consistent contender from a group that hadn't been to the playoffs in a long, long time.

The Bills had simply failed too many times to take that final leap. And it's those consistent end-of-season failures that cost McDermott his job.

He didn't do a ton terribly wrong in the most recent loss to the Broncos on Saturday. But in the end, McDermott couldn't get the Bills to their final destination.

Here are just a few reasons why.

MORE: Why Bills had no choice but to fire Sean McDermott

Sean McDermott's biggest Bills mistakes

13 seconds

Bills fans won't even want to relive this.

They had a three-point lead with 13 seconds left against the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round in 2021.

The Bills chose to kick deep rather than squib, allowing a touchback with no time off the clock. Then they played deep prevent defense, allowing the Chiefs into field goal range.

Harrison Butker made the kick, and the Chiefs won in overtime.

An inexplicable loss like this goes back to the head coach, and McDermott never even gave a particularly straight answer on what went wrong.

Clock management

McDermott was never great at this, as 13 seconds exemplifies, but we can look at the most recent loss as the area he let Buffalo down in.

He had Josh Allen try to make a play at the end of the first half when a kneel down would've been advisable, and Allen fumbled to set up a Broncos field goal.

The Bills would've been in a different situation if they had managed their timeouts differently.

They used one on offense on their second snap. They used their second on defense directly after a Broncos timeout. The third was for an injury, but those first two were inexcusable.

And a bonus from later in the Broncos game: The Bills should've chosen to receive in overtime. That way you get the third possession if both teams do the same thing. Instead, the only team to get the ball twice in OT was the Broncos because Buffalo chose to kick off.

MORE: Exploring 5 wild Broncos QB options to replace Bo Nix

12-men FG

In a November 2023 game against the Broncos, Denver had to rush its kicking team onto the field to try to go from down a point to two-point winners.

They missed the kick. Except the Bills had 12 men on the field.

The penalty moved the Broncos five yards closer, and gave them a second chance. They didn't miss, and the Bills lost a game they never should have.

Again, one of those mistakes that features the whole team but somehow goes back to the coaching staff.

Sticking with OC Ken Dorsey

Ken Dorsey was a great QB coach with Josh Allen.

But almost from the moment he was promoted to offensive coordinator to replace Brian Daboll, the offense suffered.

Despite that, it took until the Bills were 5-5 in the 2023 season for Dorsey to be taken out of that role after more than a year-and-a-half in it.

Dorsey's play-calling hurt the Bills in a brutal 27-10 loss to end their 2022 season in January 2023. The Bengals dominated that entire game and Buffalo never got anything going.

Settling for field goals

These days, the Bills love going for it on fourth down.

But in the 2020 playoffs, the first time the Bills had a chance to beat the Chiefs, they settled. It was an early view at the conservative side of McDermott as a head coach.

The Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the first half. The Bills kicked three field goals. And a 21-9 deficit to that juggernaut was not going to be overcome.

In the end, McDermott never showed he had what it took to help Buffalo win the biggest games.