After Raiders finish 6-11, what’s the future? Owner Mark Davis better hope it gets better

It was far from a successful year for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, but just maybe next season will be better?

Maybe?

Raider Nation doesn’t want any vague promises of hope after a season that began with high expectations ended with a 34-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the season finale.

The loyal fan base wants immediate results after a dreadful run from 2004-2015 and now 2022, a year after returning to the postseason

Part of the earlier bad stretch could be blamed on the quarterbacks that rotated in and out of the team’s then-Alameda headquarters after Rich Gannon retired.

Then came Derek Carr, who was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft. He at least set multiple franchise records and led the Raiders to two playoff appearances, although both games in the postseason were losses (Carr missed the one in 2016 because of a broken leg).

The franchise finally snapped its playoff-qualifying drought in 2021, only to slump to 6-11 in 2022. And now it appears the team will say goodbye to Carr, who was benched for the final two games.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the Raiders’ latest failed season.

Head coach Josh McDaniels? Sure.

Carr? Sure.

Defense? Sure.

Owner Mark Davis? Maybe.

The Raiders were coming off a 10-7 season, under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, that saw them make their first trip to the playoffs since 2016.

Las Vegas was bounced out of the wild-card round by the Cincinnati Bengals and that signaled the end of Bisaccia.

For at least this season, that was a bad move by Davis. Instead of seeing what Bisaccia could do in a full season, Davis went with McDaniels, whose résumé included a rough first attempt as a head coach with the Denver Broncos (11-17 in 1 1/2 seasons).

He was fired by the Broncos in 2010 after the team started that season 3-9.

In McDaniels’ first year with the Raiders, the 6-11 record obviously marked a huge drop off from a playoff season — especially after the Raiders’ big offseason moves (including the trade for star wideout Davante Adams) and the five big leads they went on to blow in 2022.

The Bee mentioned in a story that the McDaniels’ could work out for the Raiders, but pointed out the concerns in his previous stint in Denver.

Davis could’ve stuck with Bisaccia. The worst-case scenario if he failed would have been to then move on and hire the next superstar coach on the market, which this offseason lines up to be Sean Payton or Jim Harbaugh.

Instead, the Raiders find themselves in a predicament, hoping it will work out with McDaniels.

Davis believes in McDaniels and is counting on him and Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler to do well in free agency and the 2023 draft.

Ziegler recognized that in an interview with the Raiders’ digital media team, saying the “vision” remains.

“We’re closing on a year of Josh and I being here, that he hired Josh and myself because he believed in our vision that we presented through the interview process,” he said.

“It would have been great to go to the Super Bowl this year, but that vision, we didn’t go in there and say we were going to win the Super Bowl this year. I mean we had a vision that we’re going to build something that sustains over the long term and just to see Mark reiterate the fact like you said when you’re 2-7, you’re losing, you can shift your beliefs. That’s a natural thing to do and for Mark to stand firm on his belief in us and his belief in Josh, I think (that) just gave us more confidence to continue to do what we’re doing and to continue to follow the plan that we laid out a year ago.”

The fan base is tired of seeing their Silver and Black endure losing seasons. One fan summed it up, holding a sign on Saturday that read, “We deserve better.”

They deserve winners, and it’s up to Davis to make that happen immediately, as in next season, by hoping that Ziegler and McDaniels can deliver on that vision.