After an embarrassing loss, heads roll. That’s the way the NFL goes.

Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was the man the Buffalo Bills chose to take the fall after the team’s 24-22 loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

No matter that Dorsey doesn’t coach the defense that had 12 men on the field at the end of the game, a penalty that gave the Broncos a second chance at their winning field-goal after Wil Lutz missed his first attempt. Or that the Bills’ offense has been fine for much of the season. Or that the offense has had the worst starting field position in the league from weeks five to 10, thanks, largely, to injuries on the defensive side of the ball. Or that Dorsey didn’t call for plays that ended in drops or fumbles, problems that have plagued his group in recent weeks.

It doesn’t seem to matter, either, that the Bills’ five losses this season have all come in one-possession games, a notoriously unreliable way of judging any team.

When times feel desperate, organizations feel the need to do something. And the Bills have been living in desperation mode since their 13-second loss in the playoffs to Kansas City in 2022. It’s why they handed Von Miller an eye-watering contract in free agency in 2022 – and why they murkily parted ways with defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier last offseason, despite Frazier delivering a top-seven unit.

When you’re 5-5 in a supposed Super Bowl season, someone has to take the fall.

Dorsey shouldn’t be completely absolved of blame, though. Yes, at the time of his firing, Dorsey’s offense ranked third in the league in DVOA, first in success rate, third in EPA per play, third in yards per play, second in third-down conversion % and third in redzone efficiency. Pick your measure, and you will find the Bills in the top-three. But it’s tough to separate the impact of the coach from the individual excellence of Allen; letting Dorsey go is the Bills’ way of saying that the offense performed despite the architecture constructed by its coach.