The Raiders have lost five of their last six games, ensuring that they will finish with a losing record for the second straight year and miss the playoffs for the 11th straight season.
Coach Dennis Allen feels the team is making progress, however, and that he and General Manager Reggie McKenzie have not wavered from their plan to bring the team back to being a winner. That was as close as he got to making his case for sticking around when he was asked whether he has heard from ownership about his future with the organization.
“Listen, that’s not what my job is,” Allen said, via Steve Corkran of the Bay Area News Group. “My job is to try to get this team better, get this team ready to play against the Kansas City Chiefs. I’m not going to talk about speculation or anything like that. I’m going to worry about winning a football game this week.”
The Raiders have been looking toward this offseason for a couple of years because it offers them an escape from cap hell and allows them a chance to upgrade the talent on the roster. Allen would surely like to get a chance to coach that roster, but the team will need to finish with more strength than they’ve been showing to assure that happens because eight losses in nine games isn’t the best taste to leave in the boss’ mouth.