The question was laughed away as idiocy. Fingers clasped, for a split-second, Sean McDermott broke character with the rarest of rare condescending smirks.  

Is he concerned that the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl window may be closing?

Please.

“No, no, no,” McDermott said at his postgame press conference. “This is a good football team and you learn from things like this. You keep knocking on the door. That’s what you do. You stay steadfast in your focus and your approach.”

No fan is starving for 1,000 empty calories of cliches after a letdown like this. Obviously, the Bills are a “good” football team. One of the best in the AFC. That’s been the case for a half-decade and, sadly, that’s the point. Sunday’s meek 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round panned a magnifying glass over the state of the organization. This is a team currently bashing its head against the wall, advancing as far as it can under its head coach. There are serious issues with the construction of this roster and we’ll get to those but everything at Orchard Park starts with McDermott. Always. That’s been the case since the day he was hired: Jan. 11, 2017.

There’s plenty of good. He has spent six years bringing structure to a chaotic building. The drought ended. How he handled all the surreal off-field adversity this season is textbook.

Yet, January is usually when he checks out. This is exactly when McDermott finds himself a cozy, secluded cave and slips into hibernation. Rest assured, he’ll return to a podium near you to drone on… and on… about resiliency and mental toughness and all of these playoff losses being part of the team’s larger “story.” Problem is, this story has become more a re-run that ends with the exact same final scene. When McDermott enters the entirely new world that is the NFL Playoffs? When pressure reaches its apex? He puckers up.

His defensive gameplan is more of a mass retreat to the hills. Cornerbacks give seven-yard cushions on third and 4. His game management is more of a surrender. He does not believe the team’s 6-foot-5, 247-pound quarterback is capable of gaining two yards.

This is a head coach paralyzed by fear.

He’s the one who’s manually starting to close that Super Bowl window.

Here’s the hard truth: Nothing in Buffalo will change until Sean McDermott does.

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