The 2025 season went far from planned for most teams in the AFC East, particularly the Buffalo Bills, who assumed they would continue to reign supreme and hold onto the divisional crown for the sixth year in a row. The Patriots made sure that didn't happen, earning the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs and now heading to the Super Bowl.
The Bills, other than being at home watching the championship game (again), fired their head coach after nine years in an effort to makeover the team in the offseason and have a better chance at the Lombardi trophy next year.
Their Super Bowl window is starting to close, as Josh Allen will be 30 by next season, and their efforts to improve the roster around him have been mediocre at best.
Although they fired Sean McDermott and made him the scapegoat for their lack of success, it's clear the issues go far beyond their head coach, and they just made sure it will remain that way for years to come, wasting even more time with their franchise quarterback.
The Bills continue to be their biggest speed bump in winning a Super Bowl
The problem the Bills have proven again and again is that they're a dysfunctional franchise, starting from the top, and that will hinder any legitimate chance they have to reach the Super Bowl with Josh Allen leading the offense.
They just made sure it would be even harder to accomplish with the person they chose to hire as their next head coach. Instead of hiring the best available candidate who fits what they need and could revamp the organization, they're promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady, which makes little to no sense given how they spoke about McDermott since firing him.
If they were really concerned about how poorly the team has been run and wanted to ensure that Allen had the best chance of winning a Super Bowl, they wouldn't promote the guy who was running a stale offense that fans and staff complained about.
It's an interesting tactic, considering the Patriots are about to compete in their seventh Super Bowl in a couple of weeks, but it only ensures their rise to the top will continue, and Buffalo's will remain neutral.