Will Bills' next head coach face Super Bowl mandate after firing of Sean McDermott?

On Wednesday, Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and general manager/president of football operations Brandon Beane generated plenty of headlines regarding what they had to say about the team's recent dismissal of former head coach Sean McDermott.

During what became a noteworthy media event, Pegula was asked if McDermott's replacement would have a Super Bowl mandate hovering over his head before his first regular-season game in the role gets underway this coming September. 

Bills will want Sean McDermott's replacement to simply do the best he can

"We can’t say that to somebody coming in," Pegula responded, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "We’re making a change, and you know, it’s 'do your best job.'" 

That's all well and good, but outsiders couldn't be blamed for doubting Pegula's sincerity. The perception exists that at least one reason McDermott was shown the door is that he failed to guide the Bills to a single Super Bowl appearance despite having one-time MVP Josh Allen as his starting quarterback from the 2018 NFL Draft through Buffalo's brutal 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos this past weekend. 

Late Wednesday afternoon, a report revealed that Allen "has faith in the leadership of the team under Terry Pegula and Brandon Beane and will take an active role in participating in the upcoming head-coaching interviews." Fair or not, that could lead one to believe that Allen was on board with the firing of McDermott. Under McDermott, Allen famously went 0-4 against the Kansas City Chiefs in postseason play from January 2021 through last winter.

Will extra pressure cause some candidates to reject Bills?

Coaches and high-ranking team executives recently asked to rank the head-coaching vacancies "by job attractiveness" chose the Bills as the top opening. Nevertheless, it's thought that the pressure of "having" to soon take Buffalo to a Super Bowl could cause some candidates to look elsewhere for work this winter. 

"I don’t know about pressure right now, but there’s a lot of people that want to look at taking this job," Pegula insisted. "There’s a lot of interest." 

The thought of working with Allen will understandably excite candidates. Nevertheless, the Bills' next head coach may want to rent instead of buy in the Buffalo area whenever a decision is made.