The 2020 season was one of Jon Gruden’s most difficult coaching seasons of his career. Not only did he have to battle through COVID-19 restrictions, but his team had a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball and they were one of the few teams in the NFL not to have a single fan in the stadium all season long.
However, he did have this team rolling at one point as they were the only team to beat Patrick Mahomes in 2020. However, they missed the playoffs for the fourth-straight year and Gruden still doesn’t have a winning season under his belt since rejoining the team.
After three years, it’s fair to wonder where the Raiders currently stand in regards to their head coach. In a recent article by Chris Roling of Bleacher Report, he named five coaches on the hot seat entering the 2021 offseason. Not surprisingly, Gruden’s name appeared on the list. Here are a few snippets of Roling’s thoughts on Gruden enter next year:
“While Gruden did get to 8-8 by taking down Kansas City and New Orleans, the record was buoyed by victories over five-win Carolina, five-win Denver (twice) and the two-win New York Jets. A 43-6 loss to the four-win Atlanta Falcons shows just how inconsistent Las Vegas was.
Simply put, a team doesn’t invest in a big name like Gruden to hit 8-8. His era started with the trades of players like Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack only for the Raiders to underperform. Despite his name recognition, he should probably enter his fourth year with the franchise on the hot seat.”
Gruden is entering the fourth year of his 10-year deal with the Raiders, so it appears unlikely that the team would actually move on from him. However, fans are starting to get impatient as they haven’t reached the postseason since 2016.
Considering the start this team had, only finishing the year at 8-8 was quite a disappointment. If he has another non-winning season in 2021, that is when some big changes could come for the Raiders. Needless to say, it’s time for this team (and Gruden) to start winning.
