Ranking the Top 5 Head Coaches in Buffalo Bills History

Strong points

• Marv Levy is the greatest head coach in Buffalo Bills history, having led the team to four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
• Lou Saban is the only Bills head coach to lead the franchise to a championship.
• Sean McDermott’s career in Buffalo is off to a terrific start.

The Buffalo Bills have earned a reputation as a tragic franchise, one that even at its peak was plagued by failures.

The Bills were a solid AFL team, but failed to win a championship in the Super Bowl era, including losing four straight championship games in the early 1990s. Yet a franchise is not defined solely by its championships or lack thereof.

The Bills have had several successful coaching tenures, including double-digit win totals, playoff appearances and Coach of the Year awards. Here’s a look at the five Bills head coaches who stand out from the rest. Through their football acumen and leadership, they’ve elevated the organization in ways others couldn’t.

1 Marv Levy

Levy is one of the greatest NFL coaches to never win a championship.

The championship obsession that has taken over the NFL has unfairly tarnished Marv Levy’s legacy. Sure, his failure to win the big game changed the perception of his coaching career, but losing four consecutive Super Bowls obviously requires a team that TO DO four consecutive Super Bowls.

Behind an offense led by Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and a defense anchored by Bruce Smith, Levy’s Bills became the AFC’s powerhouse, crushing opponents in the early 1990s.

In the team’s four Super Bowls between 1990 and 1993, Buffalo went 49-15 in the regular season and 9-4 in the playoffs. Levy is considered the best coach in Bills history by almost any standard.

He ranks first in regular season (112) and playoff (11) wins and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Levy spent the first five years of his head coaching career with the Kansas City Chiefs, but he is most remembered for his work on the Buffalo bench.

2 Lou Saban

Saban won multiple titles with Buffalo

Lou Saban is the only coach in Bills history to be considered a champion.

Saban coached the Bills to back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and 1965 and was named AFL Coach of the Year in 1965. He took a utility approach and understood how different players were supposed to be used. This, coupled with Saban’s emphasis on technique, made him a successful coach.

After abruptly leaving the Bills in 1966 to take the head coaching job at the University of Maryland, Saban returned to the pros in 1967 with the Denver Broncos, with whom he struggled greatly, going 20-42-3.

He then returned to Buffalo in 1972 and recorded three consecutive winning seasons. Saban posted a 68-45-4 record during his nine years in Buffalo and is responsible for the franchise’s two championships. What eluded Saban during his career was stability.

He held numerous head coaching positions at the professional and college levels, but was often fired or left to fend for himself before his vision had a chance to come to fruition. In total, he was the head coach of 20 different teams, but his only major titles came with Buffalo.

3 Sean McDermott

McDermott’s tenure has been very successful so far

Since taking over in 2017, Sean McDermott has transformed the Bills into a consistent playoff team. He already ranks second in franchise history in regular-season and playoff wins, and his .640 winning percentage ranks first among Bills coaches.

The Bills have made the playoffs in six of McDermott’s seven seasons, the only exception being 2018, Josh Allen’s year. Buffalo has won 10 or more games in five straight seasons and has won the AFC East four straight times. While many of the top coaches in football today excel on offense, McDermott is a defensive mind who is in charge of managing the game.

While he’s sometimes criticized for a questionable decision on fourth down or poor time management, McDermott usually gets the job done. With Josh Allen approaching his 30th birthday, the pressure is on the Bills to make the playoffs.

McDermott is just 5-6 in the playoffs, and Buffalo hasn’t reached the AFC Championship Game since 2020. It will be up to McDermott and his revamped roster to do what previous Bills teams couldn’t. Otherwise, his job stability could be in question.

4 Chuck Knox

Knox was best known for his work outside Buffalo

Chuck Knox is the only coach in league history to win NFL Coach of the Year honors for three different organizations, the Bills, Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks.

With Buffalo, Knox went 37-36 in five seasons, his worst record for a single team in his coaching career. Still, there were some bright spots. The Bills went 11-5 in 1980, earning Knox his second Coach of the Year nomination.

Buffalo then followed that up with a 10-win season in 1981 and a playoff victory. The Bills finished 4-5 in 1982, and Knox left for Seattle the following season. One of his strengths as a coach was his attention to detail, particularly in run blocking. His offensive lines were always technically sound and displayed excellent fundamentals.

It provided a solid foundation for all of his offenses and explains why he won division titles with three different teams. Perhaps the best way to understand Knox’s impact is to look at the Buffalo teams that immediately preceded and followed him. The Bills went 5-23 in the two years before Knox was hired and 16-48 in the four seasons after he left.

5 Wade Phillips

Phillips’ loyalty led to early dismissal

Defensive guru Wade Phillips only coached three seasons in Buffalo, but during that time he compiled enough wins (29) to put him in the top five in franchise history and posted the third-highest winning percentage behind Levy and McDermott.

Phillips was hired after Levy stepped down as coach in 1998, and succeeding the greatest coach in franchise history came with its share of challenges. However, he found success early on, making the playoffs in his first two seasons.

Just as it seemed like Phillips had gained some job security, he was fired after the 2000 season. Buffalo went 8-8, which would not normally be considered a fireable offense, but things reached a tipping point when Phillips refused to fire his special teams coach, Ronnie Jones.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson asked Phillips to do so, and after the head coach made it clear that they were a good fit, Buffalo’s owners made the decision to let them both go.

This loyalty and trust in his team is a perfect example of why Phillips was so respected by his peers. He went on to coach the Dallas Cowboys and also served as interim head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans after his time in Buffalo.

He is currently the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas in the UFL and has not coached in the NFL in any capacity since the 2019 season.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted.