How the Bills Firing Sean McDermott Could Impact Joe Burrow and the Bengals

CINCINNATI — The Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott on Monday following their 33-30 overtime playoff loss to the Broncos. McDermott posted a .662 winning percentage in nine seasons with the Bills. He made the playoffs in eight out of nine seasons, but failed to lead Buffalo to a Super Bowl.

How does this impact the Bengals?

Well, it could impact them in a few ways. One, it continues to shine a light on Cincinnati's decision to run it back with this coaching staff and front office. Meanwhile, the Ravens, Bills and other perennial contenders moved on from their head coach with hopes of upgrading.

The other reason is more direct.

The Cleveland Browns are one of the teams that fired their head coach. Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher has emerged as a legitimate candidate for that job.

If Pitcher becomes a head coach, then the Bengals will need a new offensive coordinator. Brian Callahan is a natural replacement for Pitcher. He spent five seasons (2019-23) in Cincinnati as their offensive coordinator before becoming the Titans head coach two years ago.

Multiple teams have interviewed Callahan for their offensive coordinator job. If he gets a gig elsewhere, then the Bengals could turn to Joe Brady.

Brady has been the Bills offensive coordinator for the past 2.5 seasons. He's also spent time with the Panthers and Saints.

He also helped Burrow's career take off at LSU. Brady was the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Tigers during their 15-0 season in 2019. Both Burrow and Chase became stars that season.

"Joe and I go way back, way back at this point," Burrow said in December. "He was great for my career. We did some fun things together. We’ve got a great relationship. I look forward to seeing him and talking to him.

"Bringing in all of the NFL concepts to what we were doing at LSU, fortunately my strength is being able to read and react and get the ball out quickly and find the right guys," Burrow added. "That’s what that offense was about. That’s what this offense is about. It’s what a lot of offenses are about in this league. We did some special things together. We went through a lot of problems and solved a lot of problems. That’s what great players and coaches do. That was a special time."

Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns in his final season at LSU. Ja'Marr Chase accounted for 1,780 of those yards and 20 of those touchdowns. The duo ultimately reunited in Cincinnati after the Bengals picked Chase with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

"He taught me a lot, if I'm being honest," Chase said of Brady. "Taught me a lot about offense, concepts, defenses. He really broke the game down for me in a way that I could really understand and it helped."

Callahan is still the most likely candidate to replace Pitcher if the Bengals offensive coordinator lands a head coaching job, but Brady being on the market gives Cincinnati another proven option and someone that has history with Burrow and Chase.

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