NFL Rumors: Bills HC Sean McDermott Has 'Zero' Chance of Being Fired During Season

The Buffalo Bills blew a late lead for the third time in six games Sunday.

That was enough to allow the Philadelphia Eagles to win in overtime, but two NFL sources told The Athletic's Tim Graham there was "zero" chance it was enough to cause the mid-season firing of head coach Sean McDermott.

Four sources with "intimate knowledge" of the relationship between McDermott and Bills owner Terry Pegula said the team had no plans to change coaches, Graham wrote.

The 6-6 Bills are in danger of not winning the AFC East for the first time in four seasons as the 8-3 Miami Dolphins extend their division lead.

After two consecutive seasons of regular-season success and postseason disappointment the Bills, now No. 10 in the AFC, are in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.

The team has a 14 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to the New York Times.

Those odds are a disappointing result for the Bills' first season since signing McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane to extensions through 2027 in June. The pair had previously been signed with the team through 2025.

Although the signing was a public show of confidence in the Bills' current front office, NFL teams have extended coaches and then shortly parted ways in the past. The Arizona Cardinals moved on from former head coach Kliff Kingsbury in January, ten months after extending him through 2027.

That is not likely to happen this season in Buffalo, according to the NFL sources who said Pegula wants to maintain "the strong working bond" between McDermott and Beane, per Graham.

McDermott holds a 68-41 regular-season record and 9-4 postseason slate during his seven seasons as the Bills' head coach. Heading into 2023 he had led the Bills to four consecutive 10-win regular seasons.

But McDermott's Bills have yet to get past the AFC Championship, where the 2020 team lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

McDermott said after the loss to the Eagles the team's playoff goals were "still within our reach," per BuffaloBills.com's Alec White. The final five games of the season will determine how true that is.