Josh McDaniels coached in his 24th career game with the Las Vegas Raiders in Chicago on Sunday after being hired by Mark Davis.
NFL fans, including the ones representing “Raider Nation,” believe McDaniels shouldn’t make his 25th game after being walloped by the Bears 30-12 in Week 7.
The Raiders struggled immensely against a Bears team that entered Soldier Field at 1-5 overall and played without Justin Fields, turning to former NCAA Division II passer Tyson Bagent at quarterback. And the reactions to McDaniels became harsh, with many from the Silver and Black fanbase calling for Davis to fire the head coach.
From the current NFL standings to team depth charts to coverage of every game in the 18-week NFL schedule, we have all the news from around the league to keep you up to speed!
‘Fraud’ Was Word Used To Describe Josh McDaniel With Las Vegas
The fan account “Raiders Posts” was one of the stronger critics of McDaniels as the Raiders struggled vs. the Bears.
One post from the account? How to really pronounce Josh McDaniels: “fraud.”
How to pronounce Josh McDaniels: pic.twitter.com/WXURDKCxQe
— Raider Posts (@RaiderPosts) October 22, 2023
They weren’t through blasting McDaniels. They even created a prayer circle with the hope McDaniels would leave the Raiders. They weren’t alone in the criticism of McDaniels, either. One fan shared the big difference between the Raiders and the Bears.
“Josh McDaniels wanted to play conservative, and the Bears wanted to WIN. That is the difference between McDaniels and most other NFL coaches. The Raiders should Leave Josh McDaniels in Chicago,” the fan posted.
One other fan gave McDaniels this title online:
“Josh McDaniels is the worst head coach in the NFL AND it’s not close.”
Outside of the members of “Raider Nation,” NFL analysts piled on McDaniels. One was NFL Network fantasy football analyst Marcas Grant, who compared the Raiders’ performance to what happened to USC against Utah the night before.
“Josh McDaniels watched USC get carved up by a backup QB last night and wondered how he could get in on that action,” Grant posted.
Sirius XM personality and NFL Network columnist Adam Schein was another ragging on McDaniels.
“Josh McDaniels consistently, unfathomably horrendous,” Schein shared.
Did McDaniels Own up to Awful Raiders Outing?
Meanwhile, did McDaniels himself own up to the Raiders’ awful performance?
“We didn’t do well enough to deserve to win,” McDaniels said in the beginning of his postgame presser. “They did a lot better job than we did.”
McDaniels named off everything the Bears did well from third down conversions to controlling the line of scrimmage — two elements the Raiders struggled with.
“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do,” McDaniels acknowledged. “And a lot of things to improve on.”
But, he was asked that, after 24 games, if it’s time to scrap what the Raiders have tried to do under McDaniel.
“I look at everything,” McDaniels said. “I mean, you know we’ve had stretches where it’s been fine and very competitive. But we need to find some consistency in all three phases. I have to figure out something, we have to figure out something as a staff.”
Chicago Performance Added to List of Raiders Mishaps Under McDaniels
The list of unfortunate moments under McDaniels continued to grow.
The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen outlined the last three moments now attached to the McDaniels era of Raiders football.
The Raiders can’t lose to Baker Mayfield with 3 days of practice… right?
The Raiders can’t lose to Jeff Saturday…right?
The Raiders can’t lose to Tyson Bagent…. right?!?
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) October 22, 2023
The losses to a Baker Mayfield-led Los Angeles Rams team and a Jeff Saturday-led Indianapolis Colts team, though, were close losses. The Sunday outing was a more one-sided 18-point defeat, making it the worst loss against an NFC opponent this season for the Raiders.
And how did the Bears bottle up the Raiders? Here’s a list of notable accomplishments made over Vegas:
- Scored touchdowns on all three of their red-zone attempts. The Raiders only turned one red-zone trip into six points.
- The Bears’ first four possessions went: punt, touchdown, punt, and touchdown. Vegas? Missed field goal, punt, interception, and a 40-yard Daniel Carlson field goal for the Raiders’ first points.
- The Bears committed zero turnovers, while the Raiders lost the football three times on interceptions, with starter Brian Hoyer getting picked off twice.
- Chicago averaged 4.6 yards per run without Fields behind center. The Raiders mustered just 2.8 yards per carry on the ground.
The Raiders not only dropped to 3-4 overall in 2023 but have fallen to 9-15 overall with McDaniels coaching the team.
In his head coaching career, McDaniels has never produced a season above .500. Back in 2010, he was fired during the regular season while with the Denver Broncos — his second year with the team. Now, Raiders fans believe any hope of success under McDaniels got blown away in the Windy City breeze and hope Davis calls for a change soon.
One former NFL scout, John Middlekauff, gave this prediction of when the Raiders start boarding the team plane:
“Mark Davis was known to scream at coaches (pre-Gruden) on the team plane after losses. I’d imagine Josh and the boys will get an earful today from the championship owner.”