Add Another Blemish To Josh McDaniels’ Career With Bears Loss

Josh McDaniels is not a newcomer to embarrassing losses.

Last season the Las Vegas Raiders head coach suffered a Week 10 defeat to former Indianapolis Colts interim coach Jeff Saturday in Saturday’s first-ever game in an NFL headset. Saturday was a high school coach and NFL analyst after a successful playing career. He didn’t win another game as Indy’s interim coach, with seven consecutive losses to end the season.

Las Vegas then lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14 last season, despite the fact LA started Baker Mayfield behind center. Mayfield, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was acquired some three days before the Rams stunned the Raiders.

Well, McDaniels added another blemish to his career list against the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon.

The Bears essentially were left for dead after Chicago lost five of its first six games this season, and they went into Sunday without starting quarterback Justin Fields

No problem, though. A 23-year-old undrafted rookie by the name of Tyson Bagent did enough for Chicago to dismantle Las Vegas by a 30-12 verdict. A year after starting games for Division II Shepherd University, Bagent became the first Bears quarterback to win his first career start since 2004.

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, who has been widely criticized himself this season, pantsed McDaniels.

McDaniels and the Raiders are now 3-4 on the campaign. The second-year head coach in Las Vegas is 20-32 in his career and 9-15 for the Raiders.

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It feels like McDaniels should be coaching for his job. And perhaps he believes that, as well.

If not, why make the decision to start a 38-year-old career backup in Brian Hoyer over a fourth-round rookie in Aidan O’Connell? Hoyer performed as one might expect — despite the fact he was coming off a game in which he stepped in for Jimmy Garoppolo and led the Raiders to a win over the New England Patriots in Week 6.

Hoyer, who now has lost his last 13 NFL starts, threw a pair of interceptions and completed 17 of his 32 passes for 129 yards. Hoyer’s average of four yards per completion earned him a rating of 37.1. It was his second-worst rating in his career as a starter.

Down 30-6 to Tyson Bagent and the #Bears in the fourth quarter, the #Raiders are pulling Brian Hoyer for their own rookie QB, Aidan O'Connell.

This will be 13 straight losses with five teams for Hoyer as a starting QB, dating to 2016, when he was with Chicago.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 22, 2023

McDaniels told reporters he wouldn’t second-guess his decision to start Hoyer over O’Connell. But Raiders owner Mark Davis absolutely should be getting to the point where he second-guesses his decision to hire McDaniels — if he’s not already there yet.