The Bills played their second preseason game of the season on Sunday night against the Bears, and despite it just being a practice game, Buffalo got shut out in Chicago 38-0.
Typically, the results of a preseason game aren't the most important part of the game, but the score on Sunday night accurately portrays the Bills' struggles on both sides of the ball. After losing 34-25 at home to the Giants last week as well, Buffalo has now given up 72 points in two preseason games this year.
While many Bills starters, like Josh Allen, haven't played much this August, Buffalo's performance was enough for head coach Sean McDermott to call out the team after the game. Here's what he had to say.
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Sean McDermott calls out Bills
When speaking with the media after the game, Sean McDermott expressed his disappointment with the Bills for their 38-point shutout loss to Chicago.
"Certainly not up to our standard, what we expect," McDermott said, via ESPN. "Got a lot of work to do, that's very clear. Doesn't matter who's out there -- ones, twos, threes, fours -- whoever it is, we expect them to perform and we expect our level of performance to be much better than that."
The Bears played their starting units for the first few series, while the Bills opted to rest the majority of their starters in an attempt to avoid injury. Even though the units were mismatched, McDermott still felt the team should have competed at a higher level.
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"Get out there and playing against their ones, I expect -- we expect -- to compete with them, and that wasn't the case early," he said. "And then our twos, who were out there against their twos, and our threes against their threes -- it didn't get much better."
McDermott mentioned that he played some rookies longer than he planned as they continued to work through their growing pains.
"These guys are wet behind the ears and they need time," he said. "Experience is good for them."
Sean McDermott said he didn’t plan on playing rookies TJ Sanders, Deone Walker and others as long as they did against Bears but felt they needed more reps: “They’re all learning… These guys are wet behind the ears.” #Bills #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/hEzIWXDtei
— alex brasky (@alexbrasky) August 18, 2025
For comparison, the Bills have gone 8-4 in the preseasons since the 2021 season, but they did go just 1-2 in August last year, which also included a blowout to Chicago. Buffalo is still expected to be one of the best teams in the league, but the Bills open with a crucial matchup against the Ravens at home, so they need to be sharp out of the gate.
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Bills schedule
The Bills close their preseason against the Buccaneers on Saturday night before turning the page to the regular season. Here's a look at Buffalo's first six games of the regular season.
Date Opponent Time TV Channel
9/7 vs. Ravens 8:20 p.m. NBC
9/14 @ Jets 1:00 p.m. CBS
9/18 vs. Dolphins 8:15 p.m. Prime Video
9/28 vs. Saints 1:00 p.m. CBS
10/5 vs. Patriots 8:20 p.m. NBC
10/13 @ Falcons 7:15 p.m. ESPN
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