The Las Vegas Raiders bid farewell to Derek Carr in favor of signing Jimmy Garoppolo with aspirations of a Super Bowl run in the upcoming 2023 season. However, destiny had other plans as injuries forced Jimmy out of the roster. To compound their woes, the team endured consecutive losses, including a recent 18-point defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bears, a team led by a rookie quarterback.
Following the disappointing loss to the Bears, the Raiders faced another setback in Week 8, this time against the Detroit Lions. With the 3-5 mark and third spot in the AFC West, the team has now decided to move on from head coach Josh McDaniels as well as general manager Dave Ziegler amid the regular season.
Raiders fire Josh McDaniels
Josh McDaniels, who struggled to an 11-17 record during his two seasons with the Denver Broncos, lost his job midway through his tenure. Dianna Russini of The Athletic had previously reported that a similar fate was looming for him if the team failed to turn their fortunes around.
Unfortunately, that prediction has now become a reality, as franchise owner Mark Davis made the decision to part ways with the coach and the general manager. The announcement came at 10:00 p.m. PT on Tuesday night, marking a significant development for the team.”
“After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave. I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best,” he wrote.
The decision came even though McDaniels has four more full years left on his six-year contract that the Raiders are set to pay. ESPN tried to reach Davis to share more details about the firings, but he didn’t agree to comment on that.
However, the Raiders owner shared the decision to assign linebacker coach Antonio Pierce the task as interim head coach. The team later announced that current assistant general manager Champ Kelly will do the job as an interim GM in Dave’s spot.
Prior to that, Davis defended McDaniels at the start of October, when many fans urged to fire him, although getting labeled as one of the worst in the NFL might trigger him to have a quick thought regarding the coach and manager.
Raiders performance under Josh McDaniels
Last season, the Raiders’ owner entrusted Josh McDaniels with the coaching job, with high hopes of offering expert guidance to the team’s players and securing a long-awaited breakthrough performance to clinch a playoff spot.
However, during McDaniels’ inaugural season at the helm, the Raiders managed to muster just six wins, falling far short of expectations.
Though his failure in the first season held him in the hot seat of the NFL community, Davis could not let his coach’s fame down and provide him with another chance this season.
After getting off to a 1-3 start, Josh McDaniels was keeping his search on for a stunning bounce back, and his team ultimately achieved two straight wins over the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots, respectively, in Week 5 and 6.
The team again lost its rhythm in their following contest and again suffered back-to-back losses in their last two games. With these two losses, the coach just finished his Raiders chapter with a 9-16 record.
McDaniel’s tenure in Las Vegas mostly garnered attention for the Raiders’ poor offensive performance. McDaniels as head coach found his team failed to hit the 20-point mark a single time in all of their games this season. The record marked the longest drought by an NFL team to kick off a season since 2009, per CBS Sports.
