Sean McDermott was hired as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 11, 2017.

Two days later he was formally introduced on a stage sitting inside the team's indoor practice field.

It was there that we first heard the phrase that would be attached to McDermott moving forward.

"I just believe in the process," McDermott said that day. "We are going to win going through the process, and when that time comes we will take the field, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then."

Okay, so it wasn't the exact wording, but "process" had been officially born with the Bills.

"Just speaking from the heart," McDermott recalls. "I really hadn't pre-arranged that in my mind. I'm going to say X, but it's just something I believed in. I believed in then and I still believe in now."

Later the fuller slogan "Trust the Process" was used and has been ever since.

"We heard it a lot and we still hear it," safety Jordan Poyer said.​

"Definitely don't have an exact number for you, but it was definitely a good bit," tight end Dawson Knox joked.

"I remember the joke around town the first couple years was 'Trust the Process. Trust the Process,'" safety Micah Hyde said. 

A joke on the outside, but anything but inside the walls of One Bills Drive.

"I think it was something that we kind of rallied around," Hyde recalls. "I don't want to make it seem like it was a real cheesy chant or whatever, but I just think we all rallied around it. We understood just keep getting better each and every day. Just keep getting better. Trust the Process. Trust the Process. And I think it held true. Once we saw in the first year, we went through a three-game slide and then we came out of it and were able to make the playoffs. I think guys eyes kind of opened up and were like hmm, I think this is working."

The phrase has been part of McDermott's coaching since his time as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers.

Mario Addison one of the few who've heard the message from the beginning.

"When you look at the words 'Trust the Process,' it's real," Addison said. "Without the process you're not going anywhere. You got to take it day by day, game by game. Can't worry about playoff games before you finish your last regular season game. You got to worry about the next game."

"It's a good little recalibration," Knox said. "This week we can't be thinking about the Super Bowl. We got to be thinking about the little process of the things today. What we want to accomplish in practice. Getting through meetings with the right notes, the right details. Just stacking good days on top of each other so when the big opportunities come on Sunday's we're there to make them because we made the little decisions right during the week."

"Trust the Process" is still prominently posted around the Bills facility, but not nearly vocalized as frequently as in the beginning of McDermott's tenure as the team's head coach.

Knox said that's because he doesn't need to with so many players being with the team for years.

And those players truly believe it.

"There's not a lot of situations that 'Trust the Process' doesn't account for," defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said. "You can use it in almost any situation. After a win. After a loss. After injury. After things off the field, on the field. It's something that we buy into and do our best to show that in our day to day."

Results helped that buy in early.

McDermott's 49-32 record with four playoff appearances in five seasons as head coach following the franchises 17-year playoff drought keep it that way.

"Obviously we've been trusting the process," Poyer said. "We've got two AFC [East] Championships under our belt and obviously the next step is winning a championship. Just want to continue to trust that process and believe in that process and bring your teammates around that process too."

​Along with the rest of Bills Mafia.

"It's funny because I'll be driving down the street in Orchard Park and around Western New York here and I'll see a sign that says 'Trust the Process' and I kind of laugh to myself," McDermott said with a smile growing on his face. "Maybe it'll be here for a long time? We'll see."