Raiders at crisis point with Jon Gruden

The Oakland Raiders are finally, mercifully at their bye week. It wasn’t a fun road to this point, despite the winter optimism that came with Jon Gruden’s re-introduction to the Black Hole.

At 1-5, Oakland has an argument for the worst team in the NFL. No team has a worse record, and if not for a very questionable call against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4, the Raiders would be the league’s only winless outfit at this juncture.

Alas, the struggle has been very real. Oakland traded away All-Pro defensive end Khalil Mack in September, dealing him to the Chicago Bears in a move that was indefensible at the time, and is even more so now. Mack is well on his way to being the Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in his career, while the Raiders are allowing teams to go up and down the field without a care.

In a normal situation, fans and media would be screaming that the hire was a mistake, and that the Raiders might have to move on pronto. Of course, this is Oakland, which means everything about this is distinctly abnormal.

Owner Mark Davis knew it would take an irresistible offer to draw Gruden out from his Monday Night Football perch, and he gave him exactly that with a 10-year pact worth $100 million. The deal is the biggest in NFL history for a coach, and after the way this one has gone to this point, it’s a safe bet that nobody hands out that term for a while.

Going forward, the question isn’t whether the Raiders can back into the playoff picture — they can’t. The point of contention should be how the franchise is handled moving toward the offseason, with it clear that Gruden is running the show while general manager Reggie McKenzie has been relegated to being an innocent bystander in the carnage going down.

Oakland still has a few more weeks to substantially change the roster with the trade deadline looming at the conclusion of October. There are rumors that the Raiders are open for business with Amari Cooper being the prized jewel of the available players, perhaps costing a first-round or early second-round choice.

In essence, the Raiders have an opportunity over the next 10 games to show their fans something, anything, to give them reason to believe they aren’t witnessing the complete destruction of the franchise for the second time in a young century.