The Las Vegas Raiders let a golden opportunity slip right through their fingers. For the last decade, the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers were mostly irrelevant. They couldn't figure out the right head coach and neither franchise was much of a threat in the AFC.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the Chiefs and have dominated the division for a long time now but the Raiders could've cemented themself as the second-best team in the division. Instead, Las Vegas is now the bottom-feeders of the division and that's not going to change anytime soon.
If the season ended today, the Broncos, Chargers and Chiefs would all be in the playoffs. Denver and Los Angeles have surpassed the Raiders and have far brighter futures. Much of that has been thanks to them nailing their head coaching hires.
Despite rumored interest to coach in Las Vegas, the Raiders never considered hiring Jim Harbaugh and now he's turned around a 5-12 Chargers team into a playoff team. Sean Payton is clearly pushing the right buttons in Denver and he has a long track record of success.
Who do the Raiders have leading them? Antonio Pierce, who is in his third year coaching in the NFL and his first year being a head coach beyond the high school level. He's led the team to an NFL-worst 2-12 record and has consistently made poor game management decisions.
Some fans would like to see the Raiders keep Pierce for consistency's sake but it's hard to imagine he'll be able to compete with three of the best head coaches in the NFL. If Las Vegas wants to have any chance of being relevant, they need to consider taking a much bigger swing at head coach.
Mike Vrabel is somebody who has proven he can compete with the best coaches in the NFL. The team could also go after a young offensive guru like Liam Coen or Ben Johnson. Pierce doesn't do anything exceptionally well and needs a lot more experience before he should realistically be an NFL head coach. The Raiders can't afford to wait however many years it's going to take for him to figure it out.