“Now I’m Really Glad They Lost the Game”: Jon Gruden Gives Honest Reaction to Sean McDermott Getting Fired by Bills

Even if you are one of just four teams in the Super Bowl era to win a playoff game in six straight seasons, it does not mean much if you can never win at least three in a single postseason. And despite their success on Wild Card weekend since 2020, the Buffalo Bills never made it to a Super Bowl during their run of modest success under head coach Sean McDermott.

The other three teams (the 1990s Cowboys, 2010s Patriots, and 2020s Chiefs) all won three Super Bowls apiece. And McDermott’s inability to get a Josh Allen-quarterbacked team over the hump time and time again ultimately cost him his job, as the team announced his firing on Monday after nine years at the helm.

Somebody who is no stranger to losing a head coaching job is Barstool’s Jon Gruden. The coach-turned-internet personality heard the McDermott news live on the air and made his feelings clear about Buffalo’s decision to essentially scapegoat the coach for yet another season falling short in Western New York.

“That makes me sick, that makes me absolutely sick,” Gruden said, frank as ever (via Wake Up Barstool).

“I mean, I have no idea what’s going on in this league. They fired 10 head coaches this year. Good luck to Buffalo. Now I’m really glad they lost the (Divisional Round) game, personally… I don’t think you can do much better than Sean McDermott. I mean, hell, their whole defense was beat up the whole year. Their whole d-line, their linebacking corps, their secondary.”

Buffalo did have a lot of injury issues this season. One could even say that with all of that, McDermott actually put out one of the better coaching performances of his career in 2025. Which is why Gruden is so “sick” over the Bills’ decision to fire him.

“You know, for them to fire Sean McDermott after a season like this. I can’t say I’m surprised,” said an exasperated Gruden. “But this one really hits me hard. It makes me sick… I think there’s gonna be a lot of people out there looking at Sean McDermott now that he’s available also.”

When a team doesn’t show enough heart or effort, or they play sloppily and make mental mistakes. That’s coaching. When the roster construction is such that the best player in football doesn’t have any weapons of note added to his cache for several years in a row, is that also coaching?

Or is that on the general manager? You know, the guy who just got a promotion from the Bills directly after McDermott’s firing? General manager Brandon Beane, who was brought in after the 2017 Draft because of his connections with the new head coach (McDermott), has moved up to President of Football Operations.

The same guy who has attempted to fill the hole left by Stefon Diggs with some of the ugliest free agent WR deals you’re going to see (re: Josh Palmer and Curtis Samuel) and failed to draft a Pro Bowler apart from James Cook since the Allen pick way back in 2018.

They’ve been in Super Bowl mode for half a decade and still have no major “win-now” moves to speak of. Say what you will about the Colts, but at least they went for it the first chance they got.

Beane argued during the offseason that complaining about the lack of WR talent is one of the dumbest things he’s heard. But when you’ve got Josh Allen throwing to Mecole Hardman, Keon Coleman, and Brandin Cooks in key playoff moments and you lose the game, maybe you need to rethink some things and admit some mistakes.

Either way, a real failing upward moment for old Beaney here.