Rage, confusion & disbelief: Offseason in the life of a Bills fan

Guest Editorial by David Yarger

It’s Sunday morning of the NFL’s conference championship weekend. I sit here with my Buffalo Bills “Billieve” mug, caffeinating away the thoughts of what could have been for Josh Allen and the Mafia today.

Another year, and another departure prior to February for our beloved Bills. This year definitely feels quite different, though. The team didn’t have the Mahomes, the Jacksons or the Burrows to go through. This, truthfully, did feel like the easiest path for Allen and crew, as this is the first postseason in which No. 17 didn’t have to face one of those three since his second season in 2019.

Following the overtime loss to Denver, the Bills promptly fired head coach Sean McDermott, which sent all of Bills Mafia (including myself) into a tizzy.

While many called for the Bills former leader to head to the chopping block during seasons before, it was very tough to come to that conclusion after what may have been McDermott’s best year as a coach. It may be easy with the best quarterback in football, but the Bills dealt with a decimation of injuries, on top of a lackluster roster that – without Allen – possibly wins three to four games maximum.

I do sit here and ponder what the Bills offense would’ve looked like had they just given up their 2026 first round pick for Miami wideout Jaylen Waddle. The hypervigilance of not wanting to “let go of the future” when your MVP quarterback is rolling out with one solid wide receiver option, a guy in his mid-’30s who had been at One Bills Drive for a few weeks, and an injury-plagued tight end is something that will continue to baffle me – especially when that first round pick is likely to be in the mid 20s.

Since last Monday, when Bills brass (aka Terry Pegula) made the decision to fire McDermott – a coach who made the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in Buffalo – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in 17 years when MCD arrived – I have found myself confused; in disbelief; and, honestly, confused about the future.

I think we all know whoever comes in next has lofty expectations. The Bills have, year in and year out since about 2020, been overwhelming Super Bowl contenders. While they haven’t reached that destination yet, whoever takes the reins will have that bar set squarely over their head.

This next coach is also coming into a very – for lack of a better term – pissed-off fan base. I would argue that about 85% of the Bills fanbase is still in the “Keep McDermott, fire Beane” phase. There is a huge lack of trust between the Mafia and the front office right now. It doesn’t matter who is hired, whether it be Brian Daboll, Joe Brady, Phillip Rivers, Bill Belichick or Vince Lombardi – Bills Mafia will still hem and haw over how the ordeal with McDermott was handled.

On top of everything … Buffalo’s best player, excuse me, the league’s best player, Allen, is heading into his ninth season and will turn 30 this summer.

The window to win now is closing quickly. As the Bills get ready to walk across Abbott Road to the new Highmark Stadium, they go in with a QB who is still in his prime, and at the top of his game – but I think we all know that Allen can only take so many more hits, hurdle so many more defenders, endure so many more tush pushes and carry the cape of Superman so much longer.

I am by no means saying that Allen is deteriorating. The guy does something new that you have never seen in each and every game. I am saying that it is only going to be not much longer that he can do it all himself.

This year was a really good step in the right direction with James Cook leading the NFL in rushing. This is something the Bills have long needed – a true threat at the RB position. Cook was able to take a lot of weight off of Allen’s back. Should they have used him more in the pass game? Yeah, probably, but that’s another argument for another day.

What Allen needs is simply this: a bonafide No. 1 wide receiver. JA17 does not have that guy that he can just toss up a jump ball and know our guy is likely coming down with it, or a guy he knows will separate and win at the line. I love Khalil Shakir. I praised the pick back in 2022. I thought it was one of Beane’s bigger hits in his time in the City of Good Neighbors. But, he is a slot receiver that you can depend on for run after the catch – eerily similar to that of Cole Beasley who was here for many of Allen’s younger days.

Elite wide receivers are a needle in a haystack, but this offseason Brandon Beane needs to get his guy a No. 1 whether it be via trade, free agency or the draft.

I’ve seen many rumors about George Pickens being a possibility to come to Buffalo, which I would personally love, and believe it would be another step in the right direction.

Here’s the thing I am going to plead for from Bills Mafia: Back in 2018, when the team drafted Allen, a lot of the fan base dreaded the pick. I wrote a piece a day or so after the draft that said simply give the kid a chance. I think, albeit adhesively, we have to do the same with whomever is chosen to lead as head coach this upcoming season.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I have no idea how I am going to react to whoever they choose as the next head coach. It is not going to be easy coming to terms with whoever is chosen to lead this bunch. I personally think it will either be Daboll or Klint Kubiak – an offensive mind that will lead into Allen’s strengths.

It’s going to be tough, regardless, to see a new guy manning the headset come August and September at the new home of the Bills. I couldn’t really picture the first game being without McDermott, to be totally honest with you, but that is a reality we now face.

While I still find myself coming to terms with the move to part ways with McDermott, we have seen multiple occasions where a team fires their head coach and then finally gets over the hump to win the Lombardi Trophy. I am by no means saying that will happen here, but just food for thought.

At the end of the day, we can all hang our hat on one thing: While we all might be pissed-off as Bills fans right now (and will probably rage at whoever is brought in to take the helm), we still have Josh Allen.

I know I said he is getting older, but as long as No. 17 is behind center, you have a chance to win every game. It’s not always pretty, and it may even be sometimes downright painful to watch the Bills squeak out some ugly wins, but that’s the key word – win. Allen does that – A LOT.

Pardon me for sounding like Pegula, yelling at a cloud when he named off the Bills playoff seedings in their recent presser, but does anybody know what the numbers 96-46 mean?

That, my friends, is Allen’s career record.

To wrap up my vent session, I just want to remind Bills Mafia that it is OK to be mad at your franchise. It is OK to feel certain ways about moves being made. That is what sports is all about – a direct coalition with something you feel passionately about. But as we head into the offseason, take a deep breath. A lot of change is coming and there is not much we can do about it. Regardless of who is hired, they need to be given a fair chance by Bills Mafia and not be overwhelmed by the clouds of the past.

Saddle up, Mafia, it’s going to be a wild offseason.