After three weeks of the 2022 NFL season, there is only one out of 32 teams that’s 0-3. It’s the Las Vegas Raiders. And it’s not like the Raiders are bereft of talent. They ended last season as a playoff team and added stars like Davante Adams and Chandler Jones this offseason. So, what’s the big difference between last season and this one? First-year head coach Josh McDaniels. The former New England Patriots offensive coordinator hasn’t figured out a winning formula yet for his new team, and if the Raiders Week 4 game against the division rival Denver Broncos ends in a loss, the fire Josh McDaniels call will only get louder. Here are three of the biggest reasons McDaniels could be on the hot seat already if Raiders lose in Week 4 vs. Broncos.
3. The AFC West is already slipping away
Coming into the 2022 NFL season, most NFL fans and pundits agreed that the AFC West is the toughest division in the league on paper.
With the Raiders’ struggles, the injuries to the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Broncos’ failing to impress as well, this hasn’t exactly panned out. However, there is still a ton of talent on the four AFC West squads, and with a Raiders Week 4 loss, it could be getting late early for the Silver and Black to steal a line from Yogi Berra.
A win in Las Vegas would move the Broncos to 3-1, and the Kansas City Chiefs can hit the same mark with a Sunday Night Football victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chargers take on the other winless NFL team, the 0-2-1 Houston Texans, so Justin Herbert and company should be 2-2 after this weekend.
The Raiders are the only 0-3 team in the NFL 😅 @brgridiron pic.twitter.com/xRnSNeJ31J
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 26, 2022
Falling three games back of the division leaders in the first month of the season isn’t good. But it’s the 0-4 mark specifically that is troubling.
Six teams have rebounded from 0-3 to make the playoffs in modern NFL history. Only one, though, the 1992 San Diego Chargers, have rallied from an 0-4 hole to reach the postseason.
A Raiders Week 4 loss to the Broncos would effectively end the team’s playoff hopes and officially put McDaniels in the hot seat.
2. Josh McDaniels failed before
Maybe if McDaniels was a first-time head coach, not just a first-year head coach, he’d get a little more leeway.
This isn’t his first rodeo, though. McDaniels was, ironically, head coach of the Broncos in 2009 and 2010. In his first season, he finished with an identical 8-8 record that the team had the season prior. In Year 2, after trading up to get Tim Tebow in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, McDaniels and the Broncos went 3-9 before Josh McDaniels got fired by the team.
This means that Josh McDaniels is 3-12 in his last 15 games as an NFL head coach and, even worse, 1-10 in his last 11.
That’s a horrific record, and unlike in Denver, McDaniels isn’t rebuilding in Las Vegas. Dropping to a career record of 11-21 with a Week 4 loss to his old team will definitely make Raiders owner Mark Davis at least think if he should fire Josh McDaniels.
1. It’s the Raiders
Speaking of Mark Davis, there is one more reason that fans could see Josh McDaniels fired sooner rather than later. It’s because he works for the Raiders.
Mark Davis isn’t as fiery or impulsive as his father, Al, but we don’t know as much about the son as we did the late, great Al Davis.
Most NFL teams have ownership with long-standing track records. Those that don’t — like the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers that have sold in the last decade — have owners that fans have come to know and understand how they operate relatively quickly.
Raiders owner Mark Davis took over the team in 2011 when his father died. In his first 10 seasons, the now-67-year-old hired and fired four different head coaches (Hue Jackson, Dennis Allen, Jack Del Rio, and Jon Gruden) and let two interim coaches (Tony Sparano and Rich Bisaccia) go after coaching a fraction of a season.
Breaking: Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said he's been fired by owner Mark Davis. pic.twitter.com/VrIeW89HgJ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2018
Mark had a relatively quick hook with Jackson, Allen, and Del Rio but looked poised to stick with Gruden despite his lack of success. Gruden’s email scandal made that impossible, and the owner hired McDaniels this offseason over Bisaccia, who led the teams to the playoffs last season.
Will Mark Davis let his coach fight his way out of his issues this season? Or will a Raiders Week 4 loss to the Broncos make him think he needs to fire Josh McDaniels?
The fact is, we don’t know because the Raiders owner is unpredictable, which probably doesn’t bode well for his coach.
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