The Bills are on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years, and the man who built this roster is running out of excuses.

For six straight seasons, Brandon Beane could do no wrong. He drafted Josh Allen, ended the 17-year playoff drought, turned Buffalo into an AFC East dynasty, and built a defense that terrorized Patrick Mahomes. Bills Mafia worshipped him.

Now, with the Bills sitting at 7-5 and staring at a very real chance of missing January football for the first time since 2018, the same fanbase is asking a question no one thought they’d ever ask:

Is it time to fire Brandon Beane?

The answer, painfully, is starting to look like yes.

A roster that is regressing in every phase

Let’s stop pretending this is just “bad luck.”

• The wide receiver room is the worst in the league for a franchise quarterback. Keon Coleman (2024 2nd-rounder) has 31 catches. Khalil Shakir leads the team with 612 yards. No one else has 400. Josh Allen, an MVP candidate, is throwing to practice-squad bodies and 33-year-old Brandin Cooks. Beane had two offseasons and a trade deadline to fix it. He did nothing of substance.
• The 2025 draft was an abject failure on offense. Six of nine picks were spent on defense. The first offensive player taken? Kaden Prather in the seventh round. Meanwhile, the Patriots took Kyle Williams at No. 69 and he already has 700 yards. Beane’s explanation: “We took the best player available.” Translation: We didn’t value wide receiver enough to actually draft one.
• The offensive line is falling apart. Spencer Brown is playing hurt, O’Cyrus Torrence has regressed, and the interior run blocking ranks 27th. Allen is taking a career-high 3.1 sacks per game. Beane’s solution? Re-sign the same aging guards and hope.
• He keeps recycling the same washed veterans. Tre’Davious White, Gabe Davis, Jordan Phillips, Shaq Lawson, DaQuon Jones — eight former Bills are currently on the roster or practice squad. It’s not loyalty. It’s laziness. The defense that was once elite now ranks 19th in points allowed and can’t stop the run.

Six years of playoff appearances, zero Super Bowls, and now this?

Beane’s defenders will scream: “But Josh Allen!” Yes, Allen is the only reason this team is still sniffing .500. But even he can’t carry a roster this poorly constructed forever.

The Bills have not won a playoff game since January 2024. They have not reached an AFC Championship Game since 2020. They are 0-6 against the Chiefs in the Mahomes era when it matters.

And now, in Year 7 of the Allen window, they are in danger of finishing third in the AFC East behind the Jets and Dolphins.

The trade deadline betrayal

November 5, 2025, will go down as the day Bills Mafia finally lost faith. Beane had $3 million in cap space and a desperate need at wide receiver. He tried for Chris Olave and Jakobi Meyers. Both deals fell through. He walked away with

zero additions.

For the first time since 2021, Brandon Beane did nothing at the deadline. And the team has gone 1-3 since.

The clock is ticking

Beane’s contract runs through 2027, but John Mara just proved owners can change their mind overnight. If the Bills miss the playoffs, the conversation changes from “Should we extend Beane?” to “Who replaces him?”

Because right now, this roster is not one piece away. It’s three or four pieces away, and the man in charge has spent the last two offseasons proving he no longer knows how to find them.

Brandon Beane turned the Bills from a joke into a powerhouse. Now he’s turning them back into a joke.

If Buffalo misses the playoffs in 2025, the only logical move is to thank him for 2018–2021… and fire him in 2026.

The Josh Allen window is slamming shut on Beane’s watch would be unforgivable.