Getty Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott looks on during a game against the Chicago Bears.
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott didn’t plan to spend Christmas in a hotel a few hundred miles away from his wife and two children, but Mother Nature had other plans.
The Bills clinched their third straight AFC East title with a 35-13 win over the Chicago Bears on December 24, but the celebration quickly turned to uncertainty as the team was unable to return to the city of Buffalo after the game. The winter storm that swept across the United States had settled over the city of Buffalo, bringing dangerous winds and heavy snow that forced the airport to close and led to a travel ban in Erie County.
The weather forced the team to stay overnight in Chicago rather than return home to spend Christmas Eve at home with their families, but McDermott put the situation into perspective and offered a heartfelt message to his players.
McDermott Happy to Spend Holiday With His Team
Speaking to the Bills players in the locker room after the game, McDermott informed the team that they would not be able to return to Buffalo as planned, but said he felt grateful to get to spend the time with his players.
“The airport in Buffalo is closed, we have to stay the night tonight, just hang in, hang in,” McDermott said. “We’re doing everything we can to get you guys home with your families, ok. This is important, they’re a big part of this also.”
“There’s nothing I want more than to be home with my family and for you guys to be with your families, but if I can’t be with mine, there’s no other family I’d rather be with than right here with you guys,” McDermott said.
“If I can’t be home tonight, there’s no other family I’d rather be.” 🥹
After the game, McDermott told reporters that he had sympathy for the rest of the Buffalo community still in the midst of the storm, as well as all those unable to make it back to their families on Christmas.
“There are a lot of military people who aren’t able to come home at all right now, or people out there, emergency workers,” McDermott said, via WIVB in Buffalo. “Yes, it’s a shame we can’t get home. But there are a lot of people who have got it a lot worse than we do out there, including some people back home right now.”
Bills Face More Challenges
While the Bills were able to leave Chicago late on Sunday morning and arrived at the airport in Rochester, close to 60 miles east of Buffalo, the team still faced more challenges in getting home. There was expected to be more heavy snowfall on December 25, with a travel ban still in place and warnings from local leaders for Buffalo residents not to attempt to leave their homes.
Can’t even see the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Street lights already out around here too. @WGRZ
McDermott said after Saturday’s win that he believes the Buffalo community can come together and help each other in a time of need.
“This is where communities come together, right?” McDermott said, via WIVB. “As hard as this is, it’s only going to make us stronger as a community.
“From everything we went through over the offseason there, when we had a chance to go downtown and serve our community and help some of the healing around the Tops situation. And then we had the 6 1/2-foot (snowstorm) that came through a month ago. I think we get a lot of the attention, right, just because we’re out there and we’re in the public eye, but there is a lot of other people who are going through just life.”