Josh McDaniels came, saw, and did not conquer with the Las Vegas Raiders.
On Wednesday, the organization fired McDaniels, arguably the NFL’s worst head coach, along with general manager, Dave Ziegler. After Jon Gruden, McDaniels is now the second sideline leader the Raiders are paying not to coach the team. Now, Las Vegas is back at square one while making it abundantly clear that Mark Davis’s organization is a coaching graveyard.
That got me thinking.
What was the most excruciating part of McDaniels’ embarrassing tenure in Las Vegas? Was it blowing five double-digit leads for losses? What about the “ingenious” offensive mind overseeing a team that failed to score 20 points in nine of his last 10 games? I personally loved watching a coach who made it unclear whether he was actively sabotaging his own team. There’s honestly so much McDaniels disaster to choose from, it boggles the mind.
In just 25 short Las Vegas games, McDaniels turned himself into the NFL’s preeminent punching bag. And deservedly so. Let’s rank the worst moments (i.e., losses) of a coaching job that never went anywhere.
5
Squandering a three-score lead to the Kansas City Chiefs, thanks to four short Travis Kelce scores on MNF (Week 5, 2022)
Despite a tough 1-3 opening to his Raiders’ tenure, Josh McDaniels had a golden opportunity to right the ship. Las Vegas’ road date with the hated Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football was an ideal way to announce to the world that his Raiders were no longer messing around. It would’ve and should’ve been a marquee win that set the tone for their entire 2022 campaign.
At the start, McDaniels’ Raiders lived up to the hype. They resembled world-beaters, jumping on the Chiefs with a 17-0 toward the end of the second quarter. No Kansas City defender could cover Davante Adams (three catches, 124 yards, two touchdowns), and it was apparent that Maxx Crosby got into Patrick Mahomes’ head. Everything was coming up Raiders. Somewhere, John Facenda had to be reminiscing about that glorious “Autumn Wind.”
And then all hell broke loose. The Chiefs responded to the Raiders’ initial haymakers like champions, and Las Vegas predictably wilted in a 30-29 loss. Even worse, it happened on the strength of four Travis Kelce touchdowns (an MNF record), with the superstar tight end totaling just seven catches for 25 yards.
Travis Kelce has FOUR touchdowns 🤯#LVvsKC pic.twitter.com/gK2GAyHAks
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 11, 2022
If that isn’t a stat perfectly indicative of McDaniels’ time with the Raiders, I don’t know what is.
4
Kicking a field goal while down by eight points to the Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 3, 2023)
Even though their demise seemed inevitable, the Raiders weren’t completely hopeless at the start of the 2023 season. Heading into a Sunday Night Football matchup with the old-school rival Pittsburgh Steelers, Las Vegas had reasonable aspirations of beginning the year 2-1. Who could blame it? Most NFL teams would feel confident playing against an offense with two Mitchell Trubiskys at quarterback (Kenny Pickett and the actual Mitchell Trubisky).
But because these were McDaniels’ Raiders, they let Pickett enjoy the arguably finest performance of his career (235 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers). And for most of the evening, Pittsburgh was noticeably better, at one point even holding a 23-7 lead well into the fourth quarter. When the Raiders eventually made it interesting, opening the door to an unlikely comeback, McDaniels opted for a cowardly field goal while facing fourth-and-short at the Pittsburgh eight-yard line. This after already getting bailed out by a bizarre leverage penalty that let the Raiders drive deeper into Pittsburgh territory.
Leverage is called on Leal and the drive continues pic.twitter.com/VZtEJK8MqU
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) September 25, 2023
Note: Las Vegas was down eight points, not three, and was not guaranteed to get the ball back. So, of course, it lost 23-18. I’m still not sure McDaniels understands basic math.
3
Blowing a two-score lead to Baker Mayfield after he spent two whole days with the Los Angeles Rams (Week 14, 2022)
Around this time last year, Baker Mayfield was a failed reclamation project for the Carolina Panthers. In response, Carolina cut bait on the former No. 1 overall pick, letting the Los Angeles Rams and Sean McVay claim him off waivers in early December. With Matthew Stafford injured and no other viable backups in place, the Rams prepared Mayfield — with approximately 48 hours’ notice — to start against McDaniels’ Silver and Black.
For a while, it seemed like the Raiders would cruise, although in ugly fashion. Las Vegas held a 16-3 for a good majority of the fourth quarter. Then Mayfield and friends scored two touchdowns in the final 3:19 of play to positively stun the Raiders. Again, all of this happened with Mayfield likely not yet finding a consistent place to live in Los Angeles.
I, for one, believe this was a choke job McDaniels should actually hold some pride in!
.@bakermayfield's first TD as a Rams gives us the LEAD!!
📺 @NFLonPrime | 📲 https://t.co/4beUdmlymg pic.twitter.com/lrGpPjUMD4
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 9, 2022
2
Getting humbled by a former Division II quarterback in his first NFL start (Week 7, 2023)
Look, Tyson Bagent is a lovely story. He’s the classic underdog who earned his NFL shot and could be a solid backup for a long time. But entering his first start with the Chicago Bears, McDaniels’ Raiders should’ve been ready to humiliate Bagent and take advantage of his lack of professional experience. Instead, they let him dink and dunk his way all over the field in a caretaker performance that helped the Bears to a comfortable 30-12 win. The Raiders never even came close to rattling a quarterback who played against the East Stroudsburg Warriors less than a year earlier.
This was probably the definitive beginning of the end for McDaniels in Las Vegas:
Tyson Bagent with his first career TD pass 🔥
D'onta Foreman has 3 TDs for the day!
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/8vKXBADJm6
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 22, 2023
1
Letting Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday get a win (Week 10, 2022)
At 2-6, with the Raiders already fighting for their 2022 season, a matchup against Jeff Saturday and a washed-up Matt Ryan should’ve been a layup for McDaniels’ team. Losing to what was a horrific interim head coach and one of the league’s worst quarterbacks would’ve been an unmitigated failure.
McDaniels and Co. somehow made that even worse. Not only did the Raiders let the Colts hang around all afternoon, but they let Ryan — noted mobile athlete — scramble for 39 yards on a late (game-clinching) third down:
Matt Ryan 39-yard run? Matt Ryan 39-yard run! @M_Ryan02
📺: #INDvsLV on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/BOnQEreYOl pic.twitter.com/6CY1XbufRW— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2022
The Colts would go on to score a game-winning touchdown that Las Vegas almost assuredly was never going to answer in a 25-20 defeat. Saturday was widely maligned for being an awful head coach (he went 1-7) and presided over the biggest blown lead in NFL history to the Minnesota Vikings.
It’s awfully poetic that McDaniels’ Raiders were Saturday’s singular win with the Colts.
