It’s been a rough stretch for the Buffalo Bills since their season ended in Denver.
How bad? The New England Patriots standing at the doorstep of another Super Bowl berth is the least of their problems right now.
Bills mafia is in a state of unrest following the firing of head coach Sean McDermott. Their team’s embarrassing, end-of-season press conference with owner Terry Pegula and general manager Brandon Beane this week only made things worse.
While Super Bowls — and beating the Patriots — should be the standard in Buffalo, moving on from McDermott was a controversial move. His teams always seemed to falter in big situations, but it’s unprecedented to fire a head coach following seven consecutive 10-win seasons.
Buffalo now enters the NFL’s 2026 hiring cycle late, preparing to host their first interviews with big names like John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski, Robert Saleh, and Jesse Minter already off the table.
That, in turn, makes Buffalo’s candidates for the position less impressive. Joe Brady, the team’s current offensive coordinator, and Brian Daboll, their former OC, have generated some buzz as the early frontrunners. Both were hired by McDermott and spent multiple years on his staff, however, making an outside hire — like up-and-coming Jacksonville Jaguars OC Grant Udinski? — look very much in play.
Based on the latest reports, the Bills are casting an ultra-wide net — to the point where their rough week is getting even more laughable by the day.
The Bills just made Patriots fans’ week with the most ridiculous coach rumor yet
Philip Rivers was one of the feel-good stories of the 2025 NFL season. As tough as it was to see Daniel Jones go down with another brutal leg injury, the Indianapolis Colts’ decision to coax the 44-year-old Rivers out of retirement was fun. That he wound up starting in three games off his couch, while completing 63 percent of his passes and posting an 80.2 passer rating, was actually kind of legendary.
He couldn’t save the Colts’ season, though, and he’s now set to embark on the second part of his career. He’s been the high school football coach at St. Michael Catholic in Alabama since his retirement from the NFL in 2021.
His next job could be much more prominent. On Friday, the Bills reportedly interviewed Rivers for their head coach vacancy.
ESPN sources: former Colts QB and current St. Michael Catholic High School coach Philip Rivers is interviewing today for the Buffalo Bills head coaching job. pic.twitter.com/RVfUr1swK5
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 23, 2026
Every story involving Rivers right now is fun, but the timing of this one is a brutal look for the Bills. It’s hard to question Rivers’ football acumen as a borderline Hall of Famer, but jumping from the high school ranks to the NFL, with no college or professional coaching experience in between, is a laughable concept.
If the Bills were interviewing Rivers for an open QBs coach position, now that would make a lot of sense as a veteran mentor to Josh Allen.
Head coach? The optics, on the heels of that circus of a press conference earlier in the week, aren’t great, and it’s only making the build-up to Sunday’s AFC title game even sweeter for Patriots fans.