Is it time for the Bills to fire Sean McDermott? What the power rankings, social say

After the Buffalo Bills' heartbreaking 37-34 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, a social media debate raged over whether to can head coach Sean McDermott.

Not surprisingly, calls for McDermott's firing are now turning up in the Week 13 NFL power rankings.

Jarrett Bailey of Touchdown Wire called for McDermott's head in Tuesday's rankings.

"That was the third time this season the Bills’ defense has blown a lead with under two minutes to play," Bailey wrote. "Their playoff hopes seem to fade more by the week, and they have their head coach to thank for it."

Now that's just one writer out of the 11 power rankings we survey each week. And despite the gut-wrenching loss, the Bills mostly held their spot in the rankings. Heck, even the Touchdown Wire's rankings were unchanged — 10th place among 32 teams

After all, the Bills played one of their best games, and definitely their most entertaining, against the best team in the NFL.

Before we get to the rankings, here's a look at some of the posts about McDermott:

USA Today

Bills ranking: 11 (no change)

Bills: Before Bills Mafia gets apoplectic, let's remember Buffalo has lost at least six games in five of HC Sean McDermott's seven seasons. And despite Sunday's close shave at Philly, the offense is pretty much humming now — QB Josh Allen tying Hall of Famer Steve Young for the most career games (8) with at least 300 yards passing and 50 yards rushing.

NFL.com

Bills ranking: 12 (⬇ 1 spot)

Bills: Buffalo's playoff hopes are not dead, but they’re fleeting after the Bills couldn’t pull off what would have been an impressive road victory at Philadelphia in soggy conditions. Josh Allen put on his cape at times, and Joe Brady made some nice play calls, but it wasn’t enough, thanks to: two missed kicks; Allen’s fourth-quarter pick; a few defensive breakdowns; some bad luck on the fumble/non-fumble front; and the miscommunication with Gabe Davis on the throw in overtime. Yep, a handful of plays killed the Bills’ best offensive showing since the Miami game back in Week 4 and another step forward for Allen, who weaponized his legs far more than he has in recent games. Now, following this week's bye, Buffalo is tasked with a trip to Arrowhead, followed by a home game against the surging Cowboys. Each loss just feels existential now. 

CBS Sports

Bills ranking: 12 (no change)

Bills: That was a tough loss against the Eagles to drop them to 6-6 as they head to the bye. The margin for error for this group is small the rest of the way.

Pro Football Talk

Bills ranking: 14 (⬇ one spot)

Bills: Just when it looked like the Jenga tower was going back up, they pulled it back down.

Sports Illustrated

Bills ranking: 13 (⬇ three spots)

Bills: Everyone saying “oh wow, the Bills offense looks better” is missing the point. The Bills merely ran Josh Allen a whole lot against the Eagles on Sunday—in fact, more times than Allen has run in a game all season. This was what Ken Dorsey was trying to avoid so that he wouldn’t be hurt in the playoffs every year. And a concept that he was still tinkering with as he got fired. 

Touchdown Wire

Bills ranking: 10 (no change)

Bills: Sean McDermott needs to go. That was the third time this season the Bills’ defense has blown a lead with under two minutes to play. Their playoff hopes seem to fade more by the week, and they have their head coach to thank for it.

33rd Team

Bills ranking: 10 (⬆ one spot)

Bills: The Buffalo Bills lost an absolute heartbreaker in Philadelphia, where Josh Allen showed he’s still one of the league’s best quarterbacks. The Bills are as dangerous as a 6-6 team can be and have a 101-point differential. The Ravens, Cowboys and 49ers are the only teams with a greater margin. If Buffalo gets into the playoffs, it is a wild card that could go the distance in a suddenly vulnerable AFC.

Pro Football Network

Bills ranking: 13 (no change)

Bills: The Bills did just about everything right against the Philadelphia Eagles. They had a great first half and sustained long scoring drives in the second half. However, their decimated defense struggled to stop the Eagles in the second half, leading all the way to the end of regulation, where Philadelphia drove a bit down the field. Whenever everything looked over, Jake Elliott hit a 59-yard field goal to even the game up at 30. The game had playoff vibes the entire way through.

The Sporting News

Bills ranking: 13 (no change)

Bills: The Bills looked great for much of the game in Philadelphia, until they had too many defensive breakdowns to allow their revived stellar offense to lead them to victory. Buffalo suffered a big blow in the division race behind Miami and now is caught in a muddled middle in the wild-card chase.

Yahoo! Sports

Bills ranking: 10 (no change)

Bills: Before Monday night's game, DVOA's playoff odds gave Buffalo a 14% chance of making the postseason. The Bills really needed that win over the Eagles, outplayed Philadelphia, had a big lead and gave it away. It's hard to tell if this is a really unlucky team or there's some fatal flaw that is causing the Bills to lose a bunch of games it has no business losing, but there's a good chance it costs them a postseason spot.

FOX Sports

Bills ranking: 10 (⬆ one spot)

Bills: It's cruel that the Bills played their best game since Week 4 on a day when they fell to 6-6 on the year. As far as reaching the playoffs go, the math is not forgiving. But if Josh Allen can play like that consistently over the next five weeks, I’m not going to rule Buffalo out as a team to be feared.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills power rankings Week 13: Should Sean McDermott be fired?