The Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Sean McDermott following their playoff defeat to the Denver Broncos, NFL Network announced on Monday.
McDermott was appointed as head coach in 2017 and led the Bills to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in charge while winning five AFC East division titles in the process.
His Bills have been consistently knocking at the Super Bowl door and entered the season having lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, including two defeats at the AFC Championship Game.
They endured further postseason heartbreak on Saturday as Buffalo suffered a 33-30 overtime defeat to the Broncos in the Divisional Round.
"Sean has done an admirable [sic] job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons," said Bills owner Terry Pegula in a statement. "But I feel like we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level. We owe that to our players and to Bills Mafia.
"Sean helped change the mindset of this organization and was instrumental in the Bills becoming a perennial playoff team. I respect all the work, loyalty and attention to detail he showed for this team and the community. I wish Sean, Jamie and his family all the best."
McDermott's departure creates what promises to be the most coveted head coach vacancy in the league, with the opportunity to work with reigning MVP quarterback Josh Allen lying in wait for his successor.
Allen's eight playoff victories and 15 playoff starts are the most ever by any quarterback without playing in a Super Bowl in the Super Bowl era. The Bills have not reached a Super Bowl since losing four in a row from 1990 to 1993.
Buffalo have also recorded the most wins ever by an NFL team in a seven-season stretch without reaching the Super Bowl with 91, including the playoffs. They are meanwhile the fourth team in the Super Bowl era to win a playoff game in six consecutive seasons, but the only one of which not to win a Super Bowl.
NFL Network confirmed that Brandon Beane will remain in his position as general manager.
Prior to McDermott's arrival, the Bills missed out on the playoffs for 17 consecutive seasons while managing just one winning season in that period.
His first campaign in charge saw Buffalo finish 9-7 to reach the playoffs, where they were beaten 10-3 by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round.
A defining moment in Buffalo's surge to contention under McDermott came in 2018 when they drafted Allen with the seventh overall pick out of Wyoming. Allen struggled as he went 5-6 as starter across a 6-10 rookie season while throwing 10 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, the Bills finishing third in the division and missing out on the playoffs.
It would prompt his ascent among the NFL's elite quarterbacks over the coming years, Allen steering McDermott's Bills to five straight AFC East titles as the fiercest rival to Patrick Mahomes' monopoly on the AFC.
It would be Mahomes and the Chiefs' supremacy that contributed to Buffalo's Super Bowl agony, Saturday's result prolonging one of the league's most notable waits for a return to the NFL finale.
Allen was left in tears and claimed he had let teammates down after throwing two interceptions, including an overtime pick by Ja'Quan McMillian, in the loss to the Broncos.
