In the Fox series 24, CTU Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer relives the same bad day over and over in each season. You can say the same thing for the Buffalo Bills head coach, Sean McDermott, who continues to relive the same playoff ending over and over each season. In 24, Bauer usually prevails at the end of each season except for the last and final season the show aired. McDermott has not had that luck. The show 24 is fiction and there’s no way no human being could emotionally go through several days like Bauer did and be sane. Football is different than saving the world from a terrorist plot. To go through so many crazy endings in playoff defeats, it surely takes a toll. This is why the Bills had to fire a solid coach like McDermott. The outcomes in post-season have been horrific. The ending is always the same, a tictocking time bomb of a game clock going off at the end. The Bills season goes up in flames. The plan is to find that guy to get this team over the hump and disconnect that bomb in the last two minutes. Somebody Jack Bauer like!

Sean McDermott was one of the best hires ever in Buffalo Bills history. In his very first season as the Bills head coach, he had a winning record of 9-7 and the Bills found the playoffs for the first time since the Music City miracle occurred in Tennessee in 2000. Another playoff ending that exploded a Bills season. It was the Titans’ Frank Wycheck’s lateral pass that went over the line, but the referees took a blind eye to the play. It was caught by Kevin Dyson with less than a minute left in the game. More like seconds for a 75 yard touchdown that left the Bills shocked as they had a win there. The original 24 script that ended things badly for the Bills’ post-season games started with the wide right kick by Scott Norwood in Superbowl XXV. The missed field goal with a few ticks left on the clock. McDermott’s presence broke a playoff drought close to two decades long. In 9 seasons McDermott coached teams made the playoffs 8-9 seasons he has been around. McDermott regular season record in 9 seasons is amazing at 98-50. However in post-season he is 8-8. Best damn regular season coach but the playoffs are Even-Steven. His leadership won 5 AFC East division titles which the Evil Empire of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick collapsed and they eventually went their separate ways. Which helped.

In the last 7 seasons, the Buffalo Bills produced at least 10 or more wins in one season. Which makes them only the sixth team in the Superbowl Era to accomplish double digit wins in 7 straight seasons like that. In the past 6 seasons, the Bills have won at least one playoff game. They are the 4th team in the Superbowl Era that can say they went 6 consecutive seasons winning one game at least in post-season play. Another, were the Cowboys in the 1990’s who haunted the Bills winning back to back Superbowls against Buffalo. Then another hated team, the Patriots in the 2010’s, were a lot of wasted dildos not doing their job being thrown at the likes of Tom Brady. Then the Chiefs in the 2020’s were a thorn in the Bills’ side, head, gut and rear. You name it, Patrick Mahomes is that pest. Josh Allen’s Bills have been knocked out by Kansas City three times. All three teams won Superbowls while the Bills have not even gotten to one in the Sean McDermott era.

The Buffalo Bills had not had any help from the NFL referees the last two seasons. The officiating ending games is what leads fans to think that the game is rigged. Last Saturday it looked like a catch by Brandon Cooks, the Bills receiver, in OT versus the Broncos. It this play was ruled a catch instead of interception, the Bills would have been set up for a easy game winning field goal. The refs ruled this an interception. The Broncos got the ball. Then the refs repaid head coach of the Broncos Sean Payton a few pass interference calls on the Bills to help his team. Back in Payton’s New Orleans days, he got screwed by the Rams when the refs made no call on a clear PI. The Broncos now would be set up for an easy game winning field goal of their own and steal this one from Buffalo 33-30. Then in Sunday night’s game with the Bears and Rams, Devante Adams was in the same boat as Cooks. Clearly the NFL does things on the fly as Adams’ knee was down and was not ruled a fumble the Bears caused on the Rams receiver. The clock ticked away and once again blew up the Bills season.

The Chiefs have gotten away with bloody murder in the post-season. We go back in the hot tub time machine to last season’s playoffs. If the refs called this a first down, the Bills would have eliminated the Chiefs from post-season. You can see Josh Allen made the 1st down on this 4th down play with yes, minutes left on a drive that would have won the game for Buffalo. In 2023 the Bills could have tied the game late versus the Chiefs, but a missed field goal ended things as the clock was dwindling as the season once again exploded. In 2022, the Bills were beaten like red-headed step child from the Bengals in the divisional round at home which is crushing. The Bills had to deal with that Damar Hamlin injury that almost killed him on the field in week 17 of regular season which was in Cincinnati. They played like crap in the snow at home. Then there’s the thriller when the Bills should have won the game in 2021 versus the Chiefs that went to overtime. The coin flip favored the Chiefs. That was back when overtime was sudden death & the first team that scores wins the game. Allen did not get the ball game over. However it should have never went to overtime. Once again the clock’s ticking in regulation. The Chiefs have pretty much seconds left as the Bills play to prevent the defense and Patrick Mahomes and meat for brains Travis Swift. The offense gut punched the Bills defense and set up a tying field goal to send this one to OT. Right then the Bills season exploded. You can say the coin flip, but the ticking clock at the end. Boom. In 2020 the Bills had a nice lead in the first quarter. The Chiefs pretty much had their way with the Bills in a 38-24 win. The Bills scored points in garbage time that game, so don’t let the score fool you. How do you come back from these playoff demons with the same voice?

Many Bills fans are still trying to stomach what happened in Denver. Then days later the Bills ownership fire their beloved head coach, Sean McDermott. Then they promoted General Manger Brandon Beane making him President of Football Operations. Beane you can point the fingers at for his bad selections over the last few seasons in the first round. Then you say he has not put the team in a good spot in the salary cap. Paying old broken down veteran wide receivers big money and not getting the production they paid for. The press conference of the firing was ugly. Rumors are coming out of the woodwork. McDermott wanted one receiver and one defender who could pressure the opposing team’s quarterback to have this Bills team in the Superbowl. Beane did not make the trades at the deadline to get the job done. This after several players crying after the Denver loss in the Bills locker room. Including the face of the franchise who was crying in the press conference after the game as he blamed himself for the loss. Owner of the Bills, Terry Pegula, knew it was time for a change.

I remember when the Chicago Bulls fired Doug Collins as their head coach in the late 1980’s. Everyone loved Doug. The Bulls had the great Michael Jordan and were making the post-season but struggled in the playoffs. They had their demons in the Detroit Pistons. This is the reason why Sean McDermott has to go. He will be loved. He will be good elsewhere. He just can’t detonate the time bomb at the end of games. McDermott is a defensive-minded head coach. The Bills defense goes MIA most of the time in post-season play. They have always had talented players on that side of the ball. Remember all those Patrick Mahomes’ teams. The defense seemed to drag their butts most of the season playing average defense. At the end of regular season and in crunch time, suddenly the Chiefs defense was legit. If you had a solid defense with Josh Allen and that offense, you should be good enough to win it all. McDermott is not wrong. The team does need a true number one receiver, not named Stefon Diggs. A cancer to the locker room, Diggs is. They also need another pass rusher. Perhaps a different defensive scheme instead of always relying on getting the turnovers. Like stopping the run. Tackling fundamentally.

What kind of head coach do you get? Do you go with an offensive or defensive minded head coach? This off-season had so many coaches fired. In Chicago one of the hottest young coordinators in the league, Ben Johnson, got the Bears deep into the post-season this season.

The veteran coach, Mike Vrabel, has restored the Empire in New England as they are in the AFC Championship. The Empire fallen did not last very long. Whatever head coach the Bills hire, Brandon Beane better get it right. Yes, the new guy will have Josh Allen. The Bills have salary cap issues. Beane better start hitting on his top draft picks for a change. Guys would run through walls for Sean McDermott. Too many bad days in life will tear out the insides of guys like McDermott and Jack Bauer. If you can only find that head coach to snip the right wire at the end of regulation, and hope the refs are not in the back pockets of the other team. Not sure you can teach a head coach that. It’s instincts. You have to have luck on your side as the Bills have been jinxed their entire history. Allen will be 30 next season. Jim Kelly at least got the team to the Superbowl. What if Allen never wins a ring. How do you explain not winning one Superbowl with Jim Kelly and Josh Allen? While Bauer can save humanity in 24 hours.