The Las Vegas Raiders put forth their most uninspiring performance of the season this Sunday as they were embarrassed by the Chicago Bears 30-12. Despite sitting at 3-4 and still well within the playoff race nearly halfway through the season, the hot seat under head coach Josh McDaniels seems to be heating up.
Much of this has to do with the fact that the Raiders have simply been unimpressive all season long, particularly on offense which is McDaniels’ specialty. The offense still has yet to score 20 points in a game this season, with the team only reaching that mark once due to a late-game safety.
Some have wondered whether the players are growing tired of McDaniels, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Hondo Carpenter of Sports Illustrated recently revealed a text he received from a player who brushed off the idea of firing the Raiders coach this season, translation via Raiders Beat:
“F— that,” the player said on the idea of firing McDaniels.
“I think everybody is frustrated. We share that frustration, but I can’t think of one of us that really wants to see the coach fired in the middle of the season. Just give up on the year? Who does that? Who quits? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Frustrated? You better believe it. Wonder about some stuff? Of course. Want a guy fired? Lost our locker room? Give me a f—ing break.”
Obviously, there are frustrations rising in the locker room as the Raiders have disappointed, but for the time being, at least this player doesn’t feel like firing McDaniels in the middle of the year will amount to anything positive for the Raiders. Admittedly, making a change like that mid-season is a very difficult thing to do, as there is no way for whoever takes over to make meaningful changes to the systems in place.
One thing that is for sure is that McDaniels needs to figure out how to unlock this offense very soon. The Raiders are currently 30th in points scored, 31st in turnovers, and dead last in the NFL in rushing yards. They are doing nothing well offensively at the moment despite spending a lot of money on that side of the ball.
Perhaps firing McDaniels in the middle of the year isn’t the right move, but if he doesn’t figure something out soon, it seems extremely likely that he could be gone once the season is over.
