McDaniels' First Season Wasn't Worst by a Raiders Coach

Josh Mcdaniels' first season at the helm of the Las Vegas Raiders was disappointing, but we put it in context comparted to other Silver and Black first-season seasons.

After the Las Vegas Raiders won their final four games last season to finish at 10-7 and reach the AFC playoffs under Interim Coach Rich Bisaccia, there was every reason to believe bigger and better things were coming this season when Josh McDaniels was hired as the new coach.

Of course, that didn’t come close to happening, as the Raiders lost their first three games, the first of their trio of three-game losing streaks, and had one good stretch of three consecutive victories before finishing the season on another three-game losing streak to post a 6-11 record.

The most frustrating aspect was that the Silver and Black lost nine games by a touchdown or less.

“We’ve got a year full of evidence of what we need to make better, whether it’s our process or on our team,” said McDaniels, who dumped veteran quarterback Derek Carr for the last two games of the season, losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs with young Jarrett Stidham at quarterback.

“We are what we are. I know there’s things I can do better, and I’m going to evaluate myself first and try to do a better job of what I’m doing and what I’m responsible for, and I’m going to try to do that with our entire team.

“You learn something from everything. The staff will watch the (Chiefs) tape tomorrow. … There’s plenty to learn from each game.”

As bad as it was, this wasn’t even close to being the worst season by a first-year Coach of the Raiders, even in the last 20 years.

In 2006, Art Shell returned for his second stint as head coach of the Raiders, and they struggled to a 2-14 record, so they moved on to Lane Kiffin, but things weren’t much better the following season with a 4-12 mark.

The Raiders turned to Dennis Allen in 2012, and all they got was another 4-12 record, but somehow they kept him around for another season, which turned out to be exactly the same at 4-12.

In 2018, the Raiders went back to highly-regarded Jon Gruden, who had a 38-26 record in his first stint with the Silver and took them to the playoffs twice, but this time he started 4-12, and after seasons of 7-9 and 8-8 he resigned in the middle of last season after it was revealed he used racist, homophobic and misogynistic terms in emails dating to 2010.

That led to Bisaccia and, eventually, McDaniels.

To find the worst season for a first-year coach in Raiders history, you have to go back to Marty Feldman in 1962, who was 2-12 in the third year of the American Football League, and the Silver and Black was on its way to a 1-13 record in 1963 when he was replaced by Red Conkright.

Of course, Al Davis went to Oakland as a coach and general manager the next season and led the Raiders to a 10-4 record, including two victories over the San Diego Chargers, who wound up winning the American Football League championship that year, among claims from AFL supporters that they could have beaten the Chicago Bears, the 1963 NFL champions.

The best record by a first-year head coach in Raiders history was 12-1-1 by John Madden in 1969, which was only the start of a 103-32-7 career record in 10 seasons that sent him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Madden coached the Raiders to their first Super Bowl victory, 32-14, over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI to cap the 1976 season.

“They can never take it away from you,” Madden said of his Super Bowl win. “Maybe the fact that we chased it so long made it bigger to us. It was the greatest feeling in the world. There’s nothing that can beat it.”

In addition to Madden, Shell coached the Raiders to a 12-4 record in his first full season as head coach in 1990 after taking over for Mike Shanahan in the middle of the previous season, and in 2002 Bill Callahan led the Silver and Black to an 11-5 and a loss to Gruden and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII in his inaugural season.

With his first season over, McDaniels can only try to do better for seconds.

The NFL Scouting Combine is February 28-March 6, 2023, held at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN. March 7, 2023, before 4:00 p.m. EST, is the club's deadline to designate Franchise or Transition Players.

March 13-15 is the free agent negotiation period. During the time starting at 12:00 noon EST on March 13 and ending at 3:59:59 p.m., New York time, on March 15, clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2022 Player Contracts at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on March 15.

The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period begins at 4:00 p.m. EST on March 15. The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this season.

Watch the NFL Playoffs live when you get your Raiders tickets from SI Tickets HERE.

Please tell us your thoughts when you like our Facebook Page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.