Pete Carroll's inaugural campaign as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders hasn't gone as planned, to put it mildly. The team has been unbearably bad in all three phases of football, which has called for on-the-fly wholesale changes.
Special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was the first domino to fall following Las Vegas' 10-7 primetime snoozefest loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 10. Now, the Raiders have dismissed offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and his "right-hand man," senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell.
Firing any staffers midseason, let alone three (including one who was supposed to be his top lieutenant), is uncommon for Carroll; literally. We've never seen him let go of a subordinate during the year, which he was asked about when addressing the media after the Kelly news.
Catastrophic Raiders season forces Pete Carroll in 'uncharted waters'
Just 11 games into what's been a disastrous tenure with the Raiders, Carroll finds himself in what he described as "uncharted waters."
"I just thought it was too painful, where we were, and the play has not been good enough," Carroll told reporters regarding Kelly's dismissal. "I'm really surprised as well that this has happened, but I think our players deserve it and our fans deserve that we give them our best shot, and that's what competing is all about."
It doesn't get much more cut and dry than that. The typically upbeat Carroll knows the Raiders haven't been getting the job done, specifically on Kelly's side of the ball, and drastic times call for drastic measures.
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So, while it hurts the former to do something he never did in 14 seasons leading the Seattle Seahawks, cleaning house is a necessary sacrifice.
The Raiders completely overhauled their franchise this past offseason, including hiring Carroll and making Kelly the NFL's highest-paid offensive coordinator. They also boast the league's third-highest payroll. This has all culminated into a 2-9 record and an organizational purge that may only be beginning.
With Kelly, Bicknell and McMahon out of the picture, Carroll is running out of people to point fingers at. If things keep going south in Las Vegas, the ex-Seahawks sideline general and his sons/colleagues, Nate and Brennan, could get axed too.