The Las Vegas Raiders snapped a 10-game losing streak with last week's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it might not be enough to ensure a second year of head coach Antonio Pierce.
Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport, "the belief in league circles continues to be" that Pierce's future with the team "is in serious doubt." Pelissero and Rapoport noted that "another stirring win like Sunday's" could help Pierce keep his job.
Raiders owner Mark Davis said earlier this month that while he was not happy with how the season had gone, he would wait until the end of the year to make any coaching changes.
"I'm very disappointed, obviously. I want to see progress," Davis said, per The Athletic's Tashan Reed. "There's no excuses. We have injuries and all of those things, but your team has to figure out how to get around those issues. The bottom line … is it comes down to me. And, if there's going to be a finger pointed, it should be at me because, again, I'm the one who's hiring the people who make the decisions on the field.
"There's a misconception that I'm making a lot of decisions on the football field, but I continue to tell y'all that I don't. I delegate to the people who I hire. I give them goals. And then I get out of the way and let them try to do it and let the results speak for themselves. At this point, obviously, we're not happy, but you have to go through the season and then we'll re-evaluate. Right now, I'm not in that position of evaluating anything going forward."
The Raiders, who were 2-11 at the time of Davis' comments, lost to the Atlanta Falcons and beat the Jaguars over the last two weeks.
Las Vegas will get a manageable opponent in the New Orleans Saints on Sunday before closing out the year against an AFC West rival in the Los Angeles Chargers. While the Raiders' chances of even matching their record from a season ago are already shot, ending the year on a three-game win streak with an impressive victory against the Chargers could be just enough for Pierce to earn a second full season at the helm.
If Pierce fails to win either game, it seems his firing would be inevitable and the Raiders would begin yet another coaching search.
