ORCHARD PARK–Let’s pick up where we left off 50 weeks ago, at the conclusion of the Buffalo Bills’ 2024 season.

That season ended in the American Football Conference championship game with bad officiating favoring what this column called the Kansas City “Chief Referees.”

This followed a divisional-round-playoff game between the Houston Texans and the Chiefs for which referees were themselves called for bad calls favoring the Chiefs.

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Fast forward to the divisional-round playoffs following the 2025 season, with the Bills playing the Broncos in Denver on Jan. 17.

You saw what happened in overtime: The “interception” by a Broncos defender that wasn’t an interception, because Bills’ wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught the ball, his knee was down, and the Broncos’ defender touched him. That should have been the end of the play. But then the Broncos’ defender took the ball, and the referees called it an interception.

Please see for yourself: Bills’ offensive lineman Dion Dawkins has photos at https://tinyurl.com/mryxb6ps and https://tinyurl.com/526rsnxz.

This “interception” followed a Bills’ possession in which a Broncos’ defender committed either uncalled defensive holding or uncalled defensive pass interference in the Bills’ endzone.

Was bad officiating the only reason for the loss? No, the Bills made too many mistakes from which they couldn’t recover against the Bronco-Referees.

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The next day–Jan. 18–the Bills posted a story at https://tinyurl.com/5attd54f.

The headline is: “Buffalo Bills players react to Aaron Kromer’s intent to retire, voice support for Sean McDermott and Joe Brady.”

Regarding McDermott, the story reads: “The Bills won at least 12 regular season games for the fourth time in the last six seasons under head coach Sean McDermott.

“While the team has been unable to get over the hump in terms of their ultimate postseason goal, there’s no denying that McDermott has built Buffalo into a perennial contender that has a chance to make the Super Bowl every season.

“‘He just showed me how he could build a team with guys with the same mindset as (he) that want to run through walls,’ linebacker Shaq Thompson said. ‘And I believe everybody in that locker room would have (run) through the wall for Coach McDermott.’

“With the defensive unit consistently dealing with injuries to key positions throughout the year, McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich adjusted over the course of the season.

“The defense saw a simultaneous rise of play from younger players in Cole Bishop, Maxwell Hairston and Deone Walker, while managing to get the most out of veteran players like Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White and Thompson.

“Together, the defense achieved the No. 1 pass defense in yards allowed.

“‘Just a resilient group. We got a lot of guys that keep fighting to the end,’ Bishop said. ‘Our coaches do a great job helping us understand what we’re doing, and they just put us in a good position.'”

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The next day–Jan. 19–the Bills dismissed McDermott and issued a statement that, regarding him, reads: “‘Sean has done an admirable job of leading our football team for the last 9 seasons,’ said Bills owner Terry Pegula. ‘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. I respect all the work, loyalty and attention to detail that he showed for this team and the community. I wish Sean, Jamie and his family all the best.'”

During a Jan. 21 joint-press conference with Brandon Beane, president of football operations and general manager, Pegula humbly, candidly opened up to Bills’ fans: He said the decision to dismiss McDermott was a hard one, was his, and came in the Bills’ locker room after the Jan. 17 game.

“I did not fire a coach based on a bad officiating decision. If I can take you into that locker room, I felt like we hit the proverbial playoff wall year after year. Thirteen seconds. Missed field goals. The Catch. So I just sensed in that locker room like, ‘Where do we go from here with what we have?’ And that was the basis for my decision,” Pegula said. “Great roster. Good coaching. No Super Bowl appearance. And I can emphasize, if I can put you all in that room at that moment after the game, it’s like, ‘How do we overcome this?’ You know it’s been one year after another. And that was the sense of, ‘How do we overcome this?’ And I just couldn’t see us doing that with Sean, and that’s why I relieved him. It’s not an easy decision, trust me, with that success. But what is success? Is success being in the playoffs seven years in a row with no Super Bowl appearance?”

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To be sure, dismissing a nine-year, grade-A head coach because one wants to do even better has its risks.

On Jan. 21, Pegula acknowledged as much.

The Bills’ most important task this off season is to make this decision work.

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The only sports-fan letter Randy Elf has ever written was to Marv Levy, who wrote back to express his thanks and to say that he liked the enclosed Winston Churchill poster so much that he had it framed and mounted on his office wall at the stadium.

COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY RANDY ELF