The Buffalo Bills lost a heartbreaker in Week 10 to the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football, 24-22. They got back in the win column in Week 11, but another brutal overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12 has the Bills in trouble. This game left Buffalo at 6-6, with their playoff chances slipping away. The firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey initially seemed to pay off with better offensive outputs the last two weeks, but the defense couldn't get the stop it needed against the Eagles. With their season on the brink, Bills head coach Sean McDermott should be on hot seat.

Here’s why the temperature on McDermott’s seat should be scalding right now.

Decision-making

Buffalo had a 22-21 win in the bank when Denver kicker Will Lutz missed a game-winning field goal. However, with 12 Bills special teams players on the field, the Broncos kicker got another shot at it and eventually won the game for his team.

One of the plays that set that field goal up was a zero blitz by the Bills' defense that allowed Courtland Sutton to get free over the top. Personally, I like the aggressive call there, despite the outcome, but there are people who point to that decision as the point Sean McDermott and the Bills lost the game.

McDermott is not a bad decision-maker by any means, but he should get knocked a bit for being too aggressive on defense and not aggressive enough on offensive decisions this season.

The big McDermott decision that will haunt his career, though, is how the Bills played the last 13 seconds of the 2021 AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Why did he let Tyler Bass kick it out of the end zone instead of squib-kicking? Why did he let defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier play prevent defense?

Questions like these are why McDermott’s decision-making is under fire. But while it is one of three reasons for the current Sean McDermott hot seat, it is the least important one.

Management and hiring

Ken Dorsey with a red x

Almost all NFL head coaches get the job because they are excellent coordinators. They excel at the Xs and Os of the game and at managing a portion of the roster. However, when you get the big job, you have to be a CEO who manages every aspect of the team.

This is what could ultimately lead to Sean McDermott being fired in Buffalo.

However, if you want to allocate the blame pie for the infamous 13-second loss, it ultimately falls on the Bills head coach for allowing or directing Frazier to play a prevent defense in that spot. Then, seeming to nudge the DC out and take over this year is an indication that he had the wrong guys for the job and he can’t find someone better, which is a failure.

On the offensive side of the ball, McDermott couldn’t help Brian Daboll getting the New York Giants job. But somehow their relationship became strained, and the two barely acknowledged each other when they played in Week 6. Then the Bills coach hired Dorsey, and on Tuesday, firing him after just 27 games was a massive admission of failure as well.

The management deficiencies don’t end with the coaching staff, either. His inability to get the best out of Josh Allen on a regular basis and tame his worst instincts is a failure as well.

McDermott is not a quarterback guru (and that’s an issue as well, see below), but he is the man in charge. So, when Allen is running around and throwing to defensive backs like Brett Favre with his hair on fire, and Stefon Diggs is throwing tantrums on and off the field, the buck has to stop with the head coach.

Defensive specialty

If the NFL playoffs started today with the standings as they are in Week 10, the backgrounds of the playoff head coaches would break down to nine offensive coaches (Mike McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski, Doug Pederson, Andy Reid, Nick Sirianni, Mike McCarthy, Dan Campbell, Kevin O’Connell, and Kyle Shanahan), four defensive coaches (Mike Tomlin, DeMeco Ryans, Dennis Allen, and Pete Carroll), and one special teams coach (John Harbaugh).

That alone should give you pause and make you think that in the modern NFL, hiring an offensive guru as a head coach makes a lot of sense.

When you look deeper, though, you’ll see that top-notch talent at quarterback (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence) all get an offensive head coach to go with them. This applies to Joe Burrow, Russell Wilson, and Nos. 1 and 4 overall picks in 2023 Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson as well.

The most talented QB (outside of Allen) whose team is talented but struggling this season is Justin Herbert. What do he and Allen have in common? Defensive-minded head coaches.

When a team has a bad to slightly above-average quarterback, hiring a defensive-minded head coach makes a lot of sense. Look at coaches like Tomlin and Carroll succeeding with Kenny Pickett and Geno Smith, or even Robert Saleh winning a single game with Zach Wilson under center. That’s what a good defensive coach can give you.

That’s not what the Bills need right now.

If the Sean McDermott hot seat ultimately turns into him being fired, the biggest reason will be that Bills owner Terry Pegula realizes that he is wasting a generational QB talent on a defensive head coach. If Pegula is smart, he’ll be on the phone with the likes of Washington Commanders OC Eric Bieniemy or Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson as soon as he lets McDermott go.