Have you ever watched C-SPAN? Sometimes you’ll come across a Congressional hearing where the person being interviewed is completely out of your depth. The interviewee confuses his statements or brags; abandons lines of critical reasoning and returns to the defensive attitude; utters phrases that you can’t believe they would have the nerve or lack of conscience to say out loud. Collectively, they make the situation worse for themselves than it was before they put their lips to the microphone.
Separately, on Wednesday morning, Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and newly appointed president of football operations Brandon Beane held their first press conference since firing head coach Sean McDermott.
The 48 hours between the initial announcement of McDermott’s release and the press conference were a public relations disaster for the Bills, a series of decisions that practically set fire to the faith and goodwill of the fan base, which had been built over nine years. After McDermott’s hiring in January 2017, and Beane’s hiring as general manager four months later, the Buffalo Bills had gone from an NFL laughingstock to one of the league’s most aspirational operations. After ending a 17-year playoff drought in their first year, the tandem of McDermott and Beane drafted an MVP quarterback in Josh Allen in 2018 and turned the Bills into a perennial contender, winning more regular-season games since 2020 than any other team in the league.
At the same time, the team showed an image of stability and organizational character. Escapes at One Bills Drive were rare; all the players seemed to fit the city’s blue-collar, hard-working, underdog identity. The team’s relationship with the Buffalo community grew stronger, especially in times of upheaval, from the aftermath of a mass shooting in 2022 to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field that same season. The Bills won a lot of games, but now, in retrospect, it seems equally important that the Bills won a lot of games in a way that fans could be proud of. Even when each season ended in disappointment (most often in incomparable moments, how-did-this-happen? Disappointment: Fans seemed to (mostly) have faith in the feeling that the foundation was solid. That there was a plan. “Trust the process” was a motto coined early on by McDermott and Beane, emblazoned on the walls of the Bills locker room. But fans no longer have confidence these days.
How does this happen? Let’s count the paths. The inciting incident, of course, was McDermott’s firing after a season in which his seat seemed relatively colder than in seasons past, and after a game in which the Bills lost to the top-seeded Denver Broncos in overtime for reasons that included, but were not limited to, McDermott. Bowl. Most coaches have far fewer opportunities than McDermott did. Many fans had even called for McDermott’s head before.
What called everything into question was not only the choice to retain Beane but the decision to promote it. Beane and McDermott came to Buffalo as a package, and personnel issues appeared to be as responsible for the Bills’ failures as coaching, especially in 2025, a season in which the Bills built one of the league’s worst receiving cores, spent their first five draft picks on the defensive end but failed to improve defensively, handing out healthy contracts to a slew of veteran players who subsequently underperformed and were forced to rely on backups like Tre’Davious White, Jordan Poyer and Shaq Thompson. Beane’s relationship with the Buffalo media had already begun to deteriorate (his panic over criticism of the team’s receivers during a call with local radio station WGR550 lives in infamy, a public relations misstep that now unfortunately seems more like an omen than an aberration) and Pegula’s decision to fire McDermott and promote Beane hinted at organizational dysfunction, seeding the idea that Beane is Orchard’s Littlefinger. Park. Speaking of dysfunction: The Bills’ statement announcing McDermott’s firing had a typo in the first sentence. (Yes, yes, admiral). Then it was necessary 30 hours for the team’s social media channels to post any sort of genuine farewell to McDermott, who is arguably the second-greatest coach in franchise history.
Maybe McDermott deserved to be fired, but he didn’t deserve it. this. The carelessness with which the organization sent a man who gave legitimacy to the Bills, who loved Buffalo fans when no one else would, who made snow angels with Allen and declared, “I’m defending Buffalo” after the Broncos game, into his last press conference as Bills head coach, betrayed a complete lack of understanding of fans’ feelings and a level of thoughtless leadership not seen in Orchard Park since the days of Rex Ryan.
Anyone hoping Wednesday morning’s news conference would allay their fears was sorely disappointed. Pegula, in a polo jacket that could never inspire confidence, first testified that the decision to fire McDermott was based solely on the results of the Broncos game. “I want to take you to the locker room after that game,” Pegula said. “I looked around, the first thing I noticed was our quarterback with his head down, crying. I looked at all the other players. I looked at their faces and at our coaches. I walked up to Josh, he didn’t even acknowledge I was there. The first thing I told him was, ‘That was a catch.’ We all know what I’m talking about. He didn’t recognize me. He just sat there sobbing. … I felt his pain. I know we can do better and I know we will do better.”
Even if you ignore the bad faith reading of this quote (that the owner of a football team fired his head coach because the quarterback wouldn’t talk to him), as well as the fact that Allen probably won’t be very happy that his owner went and told everyone how much he was crying, the underlying point is that Pegula admitted that he made the decision to fire McDermott on a whim and without thinking about what would have to happen next. He made the most important decision of his tenure as a football team owner due to the outcome of a game—a game that he himself believes was decided by a referee error. He also seemed to have somehow arrived at an assessment that the game was not lost due to roster deficiencies.
The press conference got worse and much more complicated.
As press questions focused on the crux of the matter—how McDermott could be held accountable while Beane evaded responsibility to the point of a promotion—both Pegula and Beane became defensive. When disappointing wide receiver Keon Coleman, a second-round pick in 2024, emerged, Pegula interrupted to declare, “The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon” and assert that Beane was being a “team player” in making that selection. (It should be noted that Coleman is still on the list.) Pegula admitted that he didn’t tell Allen, much less any players, about his decision to fire McDermott until after it happened. (“That conversation will remain private.”) Both he and Beane hinted that they do not have a set vision for the next head coach and will conduct a “completely open” search. Pegula, at one point, felt compelled to tell everyone that her daughter Jessica was once the third-ranked tennis player in the world. And addressing speculation about a power struggle within the organization, Pegula proclaimed, “I don’t like people who play with power,” while Beane, in a suit that suggested he had a tee time at Seminole later that afternoon, gushed: “I’ve done nothing but support everyone. For someone to question my character, my integrity, that’s where I draw the line.”
Bills fans may have hoped this press conference would calm their fears about the future of the franchise, but it only intensified them. The haste of this massive decision with enormous consequences was not discredited: it was confirmed. The feeling that Beane might be too emotional for his position was reinforced. And the Buffalo Bills’ appearance as an upright organization, full of sensible, disciplined people, was burned by the missed shots against Coleman and the totally uncharacteristic (at least for an NFL franchise) and the petty airings about which Beane draft picks is responsible for
Firing Sean McDermott was never the problem. He had one of the best players of his generation in the most important position in the game; had a lot of opportunities; he oversaw defenses that gave up an average of 33.2 points in the last six playoff losses. The problem is as They fired Sean McDermott and everything that came after. Holding a press conference that basically boils down to “Trust us, bro” doesn’t make us trust you, bro, not after 48 hours of pure dysfunction and thoughtlessness. Not after describing a decision-making process that feels equal parts crazy and unjustifiable.
Now the Buffalo Bills are diving headlong into the search for Allen’s second head coach, a task they reportedly hadn’t considered undertaking until two days ago. Maybe everything ends well. It might even end better. But Pegula, Beane and the organization no longer have the benefit of the doubt. Expectations are high. The willingness to attack any misstep is greater.
