The Buffalo Bills will take the field for their first regular-season home game at new Highmark Stadium when they host the Detroit Lions for "Thursday Night Football" in Week 2.
The matchup will also mark Buffalo's first home game since the 2016 season where Sean McDermott will not be the team's head coach.
McDermott and the Bills parted during the 2026 NFL offseason after nine seasons together. Buffalo promoted Joe Brady, who served as the team's offensive coordinator for two-and-a-half seasons, to replace McDermott, making the 36-year-old the NFL's youngest current head coach.
And so, Brady will seek his first home win as the Bills' head coach in the key, intraconference clash with the Lions. Meanwhile, McDermott will remain out of football as he awaits
his next NFL opportunity.
Here's what to know about McDermott's departure from the Bills and what could be next for him.
What happened to Sean McDermott?
McDermott was fired by the Bills following the 2025 NFL season after Buffalo lost to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Bills owner Terry Pegula announced the decision in a statement on Jan. 19.
"Sean has done an [admirable] job of leading our football team for the past nine seasons," the statement read. "But I feel 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," Pegula added. "I respect all the work, loyalty and attention to detail he showed for this team and the community."
Why did the Bills fire Sean McDermott?
Pegula later clarified in a news conference with reporters on Jan. 21, that his decision to fire McDermott was directly tied to Buffalo's playoff loss to Denver.
"It was where does the leadership of the team, on the field and in the locker room, where [do] we go from that moment, another playoff failure?" Pegula told reporters. "That's why I decided Sean had to leave."
McDermott's firing came on the heels of a 12-5 season during which the Bills made the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season. Many believed Buffalo would have a chance to enjoy a quality postseason run with the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs all missing the playoffs, but the Bills only made it to the divisional round.
While McDermott led Buffalo to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons, he only posted an 8-8 record across those postseason appearances. The Bills never made it to the Super Bowl under his tutelage and only twice made it as far as the AFC championship game, which was part of what led Pegula to go in a different direction ahead of the 2026 season.
Sean McDermott career record
McDermott posted a 98-50 regular-season record with the Bills across his nine seasons with the team. They only had one losing season across his tenure, but he only posted an 8-8 record during the postseason.
Below is a year-by-year look at McDermott's results with the Bills:
- 2017: 9-7; lost in wild-card round
- 2018: 6-10; missed playoffs
- 2019: 10-6; lost in wild-card round
- 2020: 13-3; lost in AFC championship game
- 2021: 11-6; lost in divisional round
- 2022: 13-3; lost in divisional round
- 2023: 11-6; lost in divisional round
- 2024: 13-4; lost in AFC championship game
- 2025: 12-5; lost in divisional round
Does Sean McDermott still want to coach?
McDermott is not currently coaching, but he is hoping to get another crack at a head coaching job, as he told NFL Media's Rich Eisen in an early-September interview.
"I want to coach again," McDermott told Eisen. "I want to be a head coach in the NFL, and I've got this burning desire in my heart to win a world championship, and to take that to an organization and a fan base. I owe that to myself, but I also owe that to the next organization that I work for, because I want to build on the success that we had in Buffalo."
McDermott acknowledged that he was spending his time away from football reflecting on his tenure in Buffalo, assessing what went we well and what he would do differently should he get a second chance.
McDermott also revealed he was talking to members of Bills organization to get their opinions on what he could improve upon.
Who is the Bills head coach?
As mentioned, Joe Brady took over as the Bills head coach for the 2026 NFL season. The 36-year-old had been with the Bills since the 2022 NFL season and served as the team's offensive coordinator since being named the interim at the position during the 2023 campaign.
Before joining the Bills, Brady served as the Carolina Panthers' offensive coordinator during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He also oversaw LSU's record-breaking offense in 2019 and helped shape Joe Burrow into a top-tier NFL prospect.
Brady led the Bills to a 36-31 win over the Houston Texans in his first game as head coach.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What happened to Sean McDermott? Why Bills fired coach after 2025 season
