The Buffalo Bills saw their Super Bowl dreams dashed once again, falling 32-29 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game last Sunday night.
With the victory, the Chiefs punched their ticket to Super Bowl LIX – marking their third consecutive appearance – while the Bills’ season came to an abrupt end.
Following the loss, Bills head coach Sean McDermott acknowledged he had anticipated the officiating favoring the Chiefs and prepared his team accordingly.
“I mean, listen, we went into the game and one of my messages to the team, and this happens from time to time is you’re going to have to, you’re not going to get calls,” McDermott said.
“We’re not going to get calls. And I think just when you prepare a team, you prepare them ahead of time, mentally for this is the way it’s going to go down. And that’s, and you live with that.”
McDermott made it clear that officiating wasn’t the reason for the loss, emphasizing the importance of accountability.
“That’s not the reason why we lost,” he admitted. “You start looking at that, you lose sight of all the things, all the adjustments you can make as a team, or as a person, coach, player, what have you to improve who we are and how we do things.
“So, there’s going to be some of that, and you have to be able to be above that and play above that.”
Unfortunately, all most people want to talk about is how the officiating seems to always favor the Chiefs, feeding into the conspiracy that the league might have some sort of KC-bias.
Despite McDermott’s comments, some fans and analysts pointed to a controversial fourth-down ruling against Bills quarterback Josh Allen as a pivotal moment in the game.
Allen was ruled short of the line to gain, a call that halted Buffalo’s momentum and proved costly.
Replays showed that Allen clearly made the line of gain, not to mention the fact that the Bills should have been awarded a first down on the previous play as well.
But as McDermott stated, he knew Buffalo wasn’t going to get the benefit of any whistle or call on the field.
Unfortunately for the Bills, the end result was another painful playoff loss at the hands of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
With the frustration building, some have called for McDermott to be fired. However, Allen was one of many who stuck up for his polarizing coach.
“This is gonna sound weird, I’m just so proud of coach,” Allen said after the loss. “I don’t know why he’s not recognized more in the awards stuff. That’s the cruddy thing about it.
“But time in and time out, he’s got us in position … We’re fighting to get over that hump, and he gives his life to this. He’s so committed to doing whatever it takes.”
Aligning with Allen was ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky who said the idea that Buffalo should fire McDermott is flat-out ridiculous.
“Changing the head coach is, I think, preposterous,” Orlovsky said on The Pat McAfee Show. “This is a defense that, and they know this, they’ve got to add a difference-maker to their backend, their back-seven.”
Since taking over as head coach in 2017, McDermott has been instrumental in the Bills’ sustained success, leading them to the playoffs in seven of his eight seasons.
He boasts an 86-45 regular-season record, though his postseason mark stands at 7-7 and clearly that’s what everyone focuses on.
With another offseason ahead, the Bills must find a way to finally break through and conquer the Mahomes/Chiefs hurdle.
What are your thoughts on McDermott and the Bills? … What do they need to do to finally get over the hump in the postseason???
